Well, the MyClimb Genesis Challenge 2018 is officially over. I am dumbfounded by the number of Genesis Goals that I accomplished during the last week and/or the last leg of the Challenge, honestly! I’m happy to say that I met the following goals as of 31 Aug 2018:
- To climb with Lou and Leon
- To climb the Bozeman Six with Lou and Leon
- To lose a stone (14 lbs) during the last leg, and I actually lost 20 lbs!
- To climb V3 – I climbed V3-, V3, and V3+ outdoors!
- To learn and practice new techniques – I learned how to visualize from Lou when he was here (and he really liked my footwork, which I pride myself on because I practice it so much)
I’ve found myself with a renewed energy, a sense of confidence in my climbing that I’ve never had, and opportunities to share my experiences that I never expected to have! All in the last week and a half! Despite some extremely difficult circumstances that I’m working through in my personal life, I’m still happy and still riding that wave of joy and positive energy that Lou and Leon and I had going last week when we were together in Bozeman! I’m glad for that, because otherwise, I’d be in really rough shape. I’m learning to cope with difficulty, and I have to thank my friends and my psychiatrist for that ability because, Lord knows, we’ve worked and worked and worked on managing my PTSD and its symptoms!!! It’ll be a lifelong process, but being able to actually see progress gives me a lot of hope for the future! As far as climbing itself goes, I’m hitting a definite peak in performance right now and I don’t know why, but I’m not complaining! I’m going to use that peak as a catalyst to continue improving my climbing and the positive effects it brings into my life.
One thing I’ve learned over the last year of my life is that I’m definitely a better outdoor climber. I don’t climb nearly as well indoors as I do outdoors. Usually, especially if you only have a climbing gym to train in for half of the year due to the weather, it’s the other way around. I’m glad that I climb better outdoors. I feel like it’s a privilege to climb outdoors and engage nature, and I thoroughly enjoy it! There’s nothing in the world like climbing outdoors in the fresh air and the natural elements. Nothing. I appreciate nature and I ask, if you know of a situation where nature is threatened, that you fight to protect it. It’s all we have. There’s too much stress in our lives and nature relieves that pressure that builds up where the asphalt and the skyscrapers are. I’ve not yet tried climbing a skyscraper, but I do believe that I’d rather climb a mountain or a crag than a manmade structure of any kind! I doubt there’s much difference between the skyscraper and the climbing gym!!! You get my drift…
So now I’m looking forward to the next MyClimb Challenge, which is only going to be a month long. It’s an experiment. Three successive one-month challenges are what I’m looking at in the coming months. And I say, “Climb on!!!”
CLIMBING 4 THE REST OF US 