Today was an incredible day in the McDowell Mountains in Arizona. I was incredibly priviledged to climb with four new climbers. They sure did excellent for their first time. I was envious of their natural climbing intuition and I felt fortunate to be there. It reminded me of when I first started climbing and the unique lessons that the rock taught me.
Among the most important to me personally is the lesson that my feelings can lie. After tying into the rope there is a moment as you look at the route you are about to climb and thoughts begin to fly through your mind faster than time itself. Such as “you can’t do it” or “it is way to tall” or ” there is nothing to grab a hold of”. These thoughts are accompanied by feelings of anxiety and or fear. With this you begin to slowly grab the rock and climb. Feelings and discouraging thoughts continue and you are forced to reason through them. This conversation continues with every single movement. Before you know it you have arrived at the top of the route and those feelings and thoughts dissolve away and reveal a breathe taking view that is normally reserved for birds and airplanes. Now you know without a doubt those feelings and thoughts lied to you. If they lie to you outside on something as frivolous as a rock climb, perhaps there are other circumstances in your life in which your feelings continue to deceive. Climbing taught me to press on and know that the truth will be revealed the more that those false feelings and lies are discarded.
