Rock Climbing and Failure
Rock climbing and failure go together. That doesn’t sound enticing, does it? But when you think about all aspects of life, you realize you wouldn’t be where you are now without some failure. The idea of failure is only forever if you never decide to try again.
Rock Climbing and Failure
Be honest: What rock climber do you know who hasn’t failed? Every climber has failed, and they’ll continue to do so! Falling off a boulder problem happens far more than sending! If every person quit climbing because they failed, all climbing gyms would close, and nobody would be left on the walls because they’d all fallen off!
Nobody sends everything on their first go. Honestly, wouldn’t that make climbing boring? If you consistently achieved what you tried the first time, you wouldn’t understand the excitement of sending something new. Every climb would be done, and then no sense of adventure would be left!
Redefining Failure
Most people treat the word “failure” as the end-all-be-all. If they fail, then they give up. However, the significant part of failure is what happens after you fail. It’s about picking yourself up and trying again. You may not try again right away, but you will try again!
Failure comes with the connotation that it will never happen, so many people ask themselves, “Why should I even try?” Whether you’re trying to reach a new grade, hang longer on that slight edge, or finally get the flexibility to touch your toes, there’s one constant throughout–Failure.
To truly improve in any aspect of your life, you must redefine what failure means. A great way to do this is to recognize that just because you didn’t succeed at something now doesn’t mean you never will.
A simple tool to help you do this is to celebrate the small victories! Did you get a little closer to sending that boulder problem? Perhaps you felt more comfortable hanging on that edge this time, or you reached further down your shins than ever!
Celebrating the small victories is a great way to rewire how your brain treats failure. Instead of focusing on the big goal, set smaller goals along the way and celebrate when you reach them!
How Failure Can Push You to Be Better
Believe it or not, failure is where growth happens. When you don’t achieve something you’ve been working on, you have one of two options: You quit and give up, or you keep working toward your goal to hopefully reach it one day. Failure can push you to improve because it shows you the possibilities you can achieve.
When you fall off a boulder problem, your body builds those muscles to keep you on next time. Each burn is like training, the difference between working toward your goals and giving in.
Listen to Your Body When Improving
Keep trying to improve, yes! But listen to your body so that you don’t overdo it. Everybody has a threshold for how much their muscles can take, and if you surpass that threshold, you can injure yourself.
Feeling tweaky fingers? Rest them. Are your shoulders sore from repeatedly trying that boulder problem? Call it a day and come back when you’re fresh.
There’s nothing worse than getting close to achieving your goal and then injuring yourself. You’ll set yourself back, making that goal seem even less attainable.
If you get injured, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but try your best to stay positive. If you’re hurt enough that you can’t climb at all, take this time to focus on other things that you can improve. Remember, just because climbing is everything to you doesn’t mean you can’t improve in different areas of your life!
Set Realistic Goals
That is synonymous with focusing on the small victories. If you set a goal of climbing V14 in your first year of climbing, you will most likely be upset by the end of the year. Keep your immediate goals realistic, but always strive to improve something that interests you, like getting comfortable on slab boulder problems!
If you focus on realistic and achievable goals, your confidence will improve, helping you set new goals!
