But I propose that we watch Lost next season and have pillow fights instead of climbing.

Amy, I agree, but what do you mean by “send?” I get motivated when I see your arms – talk about a gun show. I’ve been practicing my “yes ma’ams” so I don’t have to feel their wrath.

I love how Climbing House gives us all a venue to express ourselves thoughtfully. Some things are difficult to express to one another when we are all together, though the feelings are there.
I love getting to know you all better. Thanks for sharing.

————————————————————

It’s easy to forget the excitement that comes with new experiences, especially when we get excessively comfortable in our lives. I sometimes feel like a restless person, although I only have direct access to myself, so I have no gauge for this. I’m sure that everyone knows the itch that comes with boredom, with routine, with looking forward, and seeing twenty, thirty, forty years of the same thing stretching ahead, dull and grey. I have no desire to live a life of 7:00am commutes, nine-hour days, dinners with TV, sleep, repeat. Nobody does. It just seems to be what happens. We wake up one day, and find that rent is due, work is waiting, and the weekend is for errands. Watching the season finale of “Lost” has become the American dream.

People want to be comfortable, it’s a natural desire. But comfort can be a trap. It whispers at us, working to keep us on the couch, out of danger, safe. It’s a baseline – this is okay, this is what I want, I don’t need anything else… I don’t know any better.

But, we do know better, don’t we? We can count ourselves among the lucky ones who understand the distillation of life on the rock, on a hike, skiing, swimming, living somewhere other than in the comfortable middle. Life on the outside is a privilege, and we know we have to work for it. In a society of nine to fives and two weeks of vacation, it’s easy forget ourselves, to lose track of the quiet that comes when you’re scared, pumped, and the only thing to hear is the thumping of heart in ear, reminding you of nothing. It’s easy to forget the gratitude you feel when the rock has a hold just where you need it, when that foot finally sticks, when we remember that these experiences are exceptional things. It’s a fight to keep motion in our lives, when everything pushes us towards entropy.

We bleed on the rock, and it takes away our pedestrian fingertips, leaving callouses and an awareness that we are not meant to be masses of flesh pushing numbers from one spreadsheet to another, consuming all we see. But, this awareness is not always enough, is it? We’re wired to pursue ease in ourselves, and we each struggle to keep from winding down to nothing but breathing routines, plodding from one stale moment to the next. The difficulty is in pushing against the habits that make us forget we deserve more than “Judge Judy” and a fifty inch screen.

Everyone has trouble finding the time and money to pursue the kind of lifestyle they want – that’s universal. But these difficulties are obvious, and relatively easy to overcome with responsible living, impulse control, and time management. Get to work in time to climb after, don’t go out to eat twenty times a month, etc, etc. Make the time to do the things you want. My circle of friends is ridiculously active: we have soccer players, ultimate frisbee competitors, skiers, musicians, climbers, hikers, runners, students, workaholics, parents, disc golfers, readers, writers, gamers, artists, potters, woodworkers, photographers, climbers, chefs, dancers, and on and on and on. Each activity is amazing, and each conflicts slightly with another. Balance is hard, but the act of trying to find it seems to make contented people. I’m lucky to be surrounded by such motivated people – it shows me what is possible, and gives me a great baseline for “normal.”

I climb for the aches and scrapes, the pulled tendons and broken bones, the sore hands and tired feet, because these things remind me that I’m worth more than my paycheck, that there’s more to breathe for than the next night of Must See TV. As smug as it sounds, I enjoy going to work and listening to my coworkers discuss last night’s dinner, because, while I’m sure the sauce was wonderful, while they were eating, I was ninety feet off the deck, reaching for a quickdraw with shaking fingers, and knowing that the person below me would save my life if I fell.

I climb for my friends, for the opportunity to trust and the opportunity to be trusted. I climb for the commands, the “on belays,” and the “I’ve got you’s,” because we all know how deep those words really go.