Have you ever thought to yourself…
If I was more motivated to train, I could climb harder… or
If I wasn’t ever injured… or
If I could climb outside more… or
If I had a different job and wasn’t so busy… or
If my kids didn’t take up so much of my time… or
If I was less scared of falling…
I could climb harder.
I’ve thought some of these things too, for a really long time. And all it’s ever done for me is create the root of all human suffering:
The resistance of reality.
It dawned on me recently that what I’m really saying is IF I WERE A DIFFERENT PERSON, I COULD CLIMB HARDER.
If I were born with a different body that didn’t get injured, a different mind that didn’t experience as much fear… Then yeah, I could probably climb harder. And for other people, if you didn’t choose to have children who now take up your time, or if you had a different personality that made you pursue a different job that didn’t take up so much of your time…
Yeah, you could maybe climb harder. Because in that version of reality we’d have all the time, energy, bravery, and ability we needed to train all the time and fearlessly send really hard rock climbs.
But we are not those people with those lives.
We bring all kinds of baggage to the gym and the cliff that makes us scared, tired, and ashamed. We have responsibilities like rent, mortgage, food, cars, and families that take our attention and time and really stress us out sometimes and sap our motivation.
And I’m not saying that we couldn’t rearrange our schedules a bit to fit in just a little more climbing, or that we couldn’t find a different job that gave us a little extra time, or that we can’t work on our mindset to be less stressed and scared..
Sure, please do those things.
What I am saying is that we are who we are right now, and THAT IS OK.
It’s ok if you are not where you want to be in your climbing.
Because you would’ve had to live your life in an alternate reality to have gotten there. The truth is that you are where you are right now in this reality. You don’t need to resist that truth anymore because everything is still ok.
You are still living (probably) an awesome life, surrounded by great people who love and accept you, regardless of what rocks or plastic you climb to the top of. And most of all, you are probably a decent human who has all kinds of valuable qualities beyond climbing.
Can you accept your current reality?
Because if you can’t change it (your job, motivation levels, family responsibilities, where you live, past traumas sneaking into your mindset, injuries, etc.) then the only way to have true joy and tranquility is to accept your reality as it is.
We can’t wish or shame our way into some other reality where we’re standing atop World Cup Podiums.
If you want help accepting your own reality and current climbing level, I’m taking new mindset coaching clients right now.
I will help you see–just like I did for myself recently–that you have 100% valid reasons for being right where you are. That you are acceptable and you belong, just as you are. And you don’t need to prove anything to anyone with your climbing – not anyone that matters, anyway.
And yes, you can still have climbing goals and aspirations, and you can still get out there and get after it, just like I do.
But it can be for purer reasons, without shame and comparison attached to your motivations.
You can find my offerings in the link below and I would be honored to help you with this. I am a Certified Professional Coach, having completed the CPC program at iPEC in 2023. I’m also certified as a COR.E Performance Dynamics Specialist, which means I’ve done specific training on performance in sports and other areas of life.
Leave A Comment