Calluses and life lessons

My husband meticulously planned day three of my birthday week ensuring that we both were out of our comfort zones. I, an avid planner had to endure the anxiety of the unknown and he, Mr. Spontaneous had to plan. My mother’s presence added to the challenge as he had to strategically answer her Whys, Where, and when without revealing the surprise.

An hour of bouldering was a reminder of valuable life lessons.

Trust your intuition

The picture shows the low height of the climbing hold.

While coming down, I was too scared to jump because from my vantage point the height of the lowest hold seemed higher than it really was. But the minute I let go, I immediately fell on the padded floor. I don’t remember if I felt brave, but it got easier to fall.

Sometimes we are so close to a problem that it seems out of our bounds. At this moment, have faith in your intuition, strategy, and let it go.

Empathize with yourself

People often empathize better after being in someone else’s shoes. In my experience, it was literal shoes. I couldn’t climb beyond the third hold on the Blue route (it was a grade-three difficulty). My husband tried to help by giving directions. After watching me fail a few times, he decided to try it himself. As he studied the route, he understood the problem. The route required the climber to be fitter than I was. Despite being stronger than me, it was challenging even for him to continue the journey. He eventually completed the route.

One would assume that because he could complete the challenge, I should have been able to do so too by following him. But life is not lived by imitating others. Two people have different strengths and therefore, following someone else’s path does not work.

This experience taught me to be OK with my inability to complete something that was beyond my expertise level.

It takes effort to seem effortless

The picture that you see below shows my best effort. I was in this position for 30 seconds before I fell. What amazed me was the fact that I could climb and hold my stance at all. If you asked me to do this last year I wouldn’t even have tried.

It took me months of physical and mental training to attempt this hold.

When something seems simple it’s because of the hard work and diligence behind the scene.

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