New Experiences Are Important For Growth In Other Aspects Of Life

I recently started rock climbing about a month ago and since my initial trial weeks I have fallen in love with the sport. I have been really focusing and dedicating myself to give this sport an opportunity the last few weeks and it has been a spectacular experience. Thus, I decided that rock climbing would be a great new form of exercise to add to my life. Rock climbing isn’t only a full body workout, it is also a mental workout because you must solve the puzzle for the route that you are going to take up the wall. I have found that this task of climbing up a wall is extremely rewarding because although you may not be able to go up a certain climb right away, with  preparation and practice you will be able to eventually conquer it. It is easy to see that rock climbing is a sport where you must have a growth mindset because you need to be willing to work through pain and failure in order to reach the top of every climb. Besides most rock climbers don’t climb a wall the first time with zero incident, so it is important to accept the fact that failure is imminent. Therefore, the way you react and adjust your approach on a specific route is key to your success.

It is interesting that ever since I have started rock climbing I have been able to see common similarities between rock climbing and life. For example, in most circumstances your first attempt at a task or climbing up a wall is going to be a failure. This is a realistic result which forces you to realize that you may fail many more times after this initial attempt, thus it is important for you to posses a growth mindset. You must be willing to accept failure in order to achieve your goals and unlock your true potential. Hence I feel that the quote, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react” not only provides a better context to life but also rock climbing. This is due to the fact that the individuals that accomplish their goals and unlock their full potential react to failure and roadblocks differently. This can be said for rock climbing and other sports as well because those who use failure to improve and become a better athlete will be more successful. Therefore, I believe that rock climbing is going to be a great challenge that will test my willingness to improve and grow as an individual and athlete.

In addition, I have already noticed that although a lot of rock climbing walls seem utterly impossible today, I will be one step closer to conquering them tomorrow. As with life, although a goal or a problem seems out of reach, the people that work to solve problems and improve themselves are often the individuals that succeed. I have already been able to experience this phenomenon because I have been able to continuously complete more difficult walls which I wasn’t able to climb previously.

My new adventures with rock climbing has shown me that there is no reason to fear the unknown. This is due to the fact that if I wasn’t open to giving rock climbing a chance as I did with Speed Skating last winter, I would have never been able to appreciate the exciting challenges and welcoming communities within these sports. Therefore, trying this new sport has shown me that it is important to always be open and attempt new experiences.  As a result, I find that it is important that a first attempt at something new should be completed in a way that you fully endure the challenge while embracing the experience. This is an important lesson because if I stopped rock climbing after my first session of blister filled hands, I would have never been able to experience the potential this challenging sport had in my life.

Moving Forward

In conclusion, I am looking forward to the future challenges and experiences that I will face in rock climbing. Although I have only started my journey I am already looking forward to conquering tougher climbs and even possibly climbing outdoors in the future. I feel that the parallels between rock climbing and life will be beneficial to my future as I will be able to learn new skills as well as life lessons while staying physically and mentally fit. Therefore, it is easy to recognize how new experiences such as rock climbing are important for growth and success in other aspects of life.