Climbing this morning was great!

For the second morning in a row, I’ve gotten my alpine start at 0600 hrs at the climbing gym.  This is mostly due to the fact that the climbing gym is having youth camps during the day and the coveted “alone time” in the gym is now being overrun with kids ages 6-12 from 1000-1400 hrs.  I guess there’s a trade-off for the kids not being in school in the summer, but I like the quiet time I get, shared with precious few other people in the gym, at 0600 hrs.  Climbing this morning was great!  The route setters did a pretty cool thing when they set the new boulder problems on Monday.  Yesterday morning, I tried out more problems than this morning, due to being tired and almost falling asleep on the bench, but what the route setters did was reverse the cards on all of new problems they set so that you can’t see the grade of the problem unless you look underneath.  This way, people try things that they normally wouldn’t!  I ended up trying some things I normally wouldn’t (for one thing, I was bouldering on the main bouldering wall, which I don’t often do), and I haven’t looked at any of the tags for grades yet because I don’t want to know what they are until I send the problems.  When I send the problem, then I’ll look at the grade.  There are two that I could’ve flashed if I’d had the determination to, so those are V0 or V1 for sure.  There’s one I’m working that I think is a V1+ or a V2 and I can’t quite get the beta nailed down.  Anyway, the idea of climbing a problem without a grade is more like climbing outside.  It’s a lot more fun!!!

This morning, I woke up to my alarm…well, actually to my husband elbowing me because I hadn’t heard the alarm and was sound asleep.  I needed more sleep, though, and I went climbing first thing because I’m making conscious choices to take back my time and to structure my schedule in a way that makes sure I get time to do everything I want to do during my day unless something unexpected comes up, or I have an appointment.  I’m remaking my routine, which I hope works, because I definitely need to get a whole lot of climbing and biking outdoors in this summer!!!  Last winter was rough and way too long.  I’m still in my Depression, but I’m trying to rock my way out of it by doing things even when I don’t feel like doing them, as my therapy with the Doc goes.  I’m having a hard time, but I’m pressing forward.  It’s a moment-to-moment struggle a lot of the time and I hate it when I get into one of these episodes, because they can last for a while with nothing to be done about them but to endure them.  Medication can only do so much.  PTSD and Depression and Anxiety all suck.  That’s all I can say.  There’s not a lot more that can be said of how un-joyful having a mental disorder or two is.  Let’s not dwell on it more than we have to, though.  That only feeds the misery, which is what we’re trying to avoid!!!

I think I need to plan a trip to Spire in Bozeman soon.  Maybe that can get me out of my funk a little better.  Something different.  Different routes by different route setters sometimes makes a huge difference!  I need to go and spend a few days in Bozeman, actually.  I need to get a hold of a good Bozeman city map and plan out my bike route between the Bozeman Six boulders.  I also need to get my bike tuned up after I ride it a bit more.  I haven’t ridden it lately and I need to.  Biking is part of my lifestyle overhaul and I need to get my cardio in for endurance for climbing!  In short, I just need to get out and do more.  The warm weather is here, and even though we’ve had some trouble with the rain lately, there are times I could be outside biking when I’m not indoors climbing!  I need sleep, too, though!!!  What a balancing act!