Life, and Climbing
I saw an add not long ago for a climbing chalk that spoke of the euphoria experienced when “your grip does more than you thought it could” and it could not be more true. It is an amazing experience to simply go for a move and stick it. You see, in practical slow motion, as your fingers and thumb close around that pinch. You have mere moments more momentum and you squeeze. You squeeze your grip, and you tighten your arm before you start to come down, and as you begin to weight on the hold you have a moment of doubt, but then… You’re still there. Hanging from an impossibly small hold. It doesn’t matter if you are 5 feet or 300 feet in the air--it is exhilarating. (Ok it matters a little but… still)
And so I bought the chalk. I bought a $5, one oz bag. And since I know my climbing community I will remind you that I am talking about CHALK… But I had to try it. I had to see what this super technical, dry as the Sahara, magical genie chalk was about. And you know what? That night I solved a bouldering problem which I had been projecting for well over a week. And you know what else? It had nothing to do with the chalk.
For me, solving that problem required a vastly new perspective, and it required technique. I made a move clearly not intended by the setter which skipped three whole holds and after a little bit of experimenting with this new approach, both hands smoothly found the final hold. After coming down from the high of solving a problem you’ve been working hard on, I reflected on how little difference the chalk actually made. The simple fact is that chalk is just chalk. It will never replace technique. It will never replace conditioning. It will never replace experience. When we are stuck it is too easy to think that a new product will solve our issue and this is just as true in life as in climbing. Quick fixes and fat burning diets are the new magic beans and miracle cures. So what did I learn from that bouldering problem?
No failure is final except for the failure that comes from within. It has been said so many times that there is no way to say it without being cliche, yet still we look for shortcuts. We can look for tools, and we should look for new resources to help us. But it is too often that we think that the product is the solution.
So in both life and climbing, remember that the key is perspective. We all fall off the wall. It is hard work, experience (including the falls), and getting back on the wall which keeps us on the wall longer and gets us higher. After all, that euphoria I mentioned earlier, we never get that unless we build expectations of what we can’t do yet keep trying to do it anyway.
