I wrote a blog post this morning. To be honest, it wasn't very good. It has been awhile since I have written anything and I am out of practice. But I worked on it for an hour and then, right before hitting publish I reread it and said, nope, not posting this.
If you are my Facebook friend you know that we have been doing a lot of rock climbing lately, not just at the gym like always, but also on real rocks. So I wrote this post about climbing. It went something like this:
"I would not say I am an adventurer. That being said, I love love love this climbing thing. Like really love it. And yes, it is pretty damn scary. But that is not why I love it. We are actually not really the risk taking type, Matthew and I. So while yes, rock climbing is inherently dangerous, we do everything we can to minimize the risk. We climb with helmets. We strap ourselves to everything, all the time. We climb slowly and carefully. We double check all knots and caribiners. Could an accident happen? Sure. But then again, I could also crash my car on the BQE if I am not paying attention. A lot of people think that we must love climbing for the adrenaline rush. But the truth is, I love climbing for the puzzle solving. I love it for the thrill of learning what my body can do. And yes, it feels great to overcome my fear of the woods and the fear of falling and even my fear of being far away from the car. But mostly, it is just beautiful out there. "
And then I posted this picture:
That was at the very end of the post. The first four paragraphs were all disclaimers. About how despite my Facebook posts about biking to work and climbing cliffs and grappling, I am actually just like you. I am normal. I pay bills. I stress about work. I yell at my kid. I go to Costco for toilet paper.
If you are my Facebook friend you know that we have been doing a lot of rock climbing lately, not just at the gym like always, but also on real rocks. So I wrote this post about climbing. It went something like this:
"I would not say I am an adventurer. That being said, I love love love this climbing thing. Like really love it. And yes, it is pretty damn scary. But that is not why I love it. We are actually not really the risk taking type, Matthew and I. So while yes, rock climbing is inherently dangerous, we do everything we can to minimize the risk. We climb with helmets. We strap ourselves to everything, all the time. We climb slowly and carefully. We double check all knots and caribiners. Could an accident happen? Sure. But then again, I could also crash my car on the BQE if I am not paying attention. A lot of people think that we must love climbing for the adrenaline rush. But the truth is, I love climbing for the puzzle solving. I love it for the thrill of learning what my body can do. And yes, it feels great to overcome my fear of the woods and the fear of falling and even my fear of being far away from the car. But mostly, it is just beautiful out there. "
And then I posted this picture:
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| High Rocks at Ralph Stover State Park |
The point is, apparently to my brain it was not ok to just say hey everyone we discovered this awesome place to rock climb and it is really cool. I had to apologize for it first. To make sure everyone knew that I was still afraid of flying. And that I only really bike from my house to the dojo. And that yes, I am a little afraid of the woods but don't worry we didn't have to walk too far from the car to climb.
In other words, in order to post about how excited I am that we are all learning this new skill, I first had to make sure that no one thought I was bragging. That no one felt bad. That everyone who had to sit in their florescent lit office all day on Wednesday understood that I was really just like them. I too have to work. I too have to parent. I too have chores. Just not on Wednesday. On Wednesday I was at High Rocks.
Why is it that I always feel so compelled to apologize for our life? What is wrong with our society that I feel the need to say hey I am sorry I didn't work 10 hours today for a boss I hate to make money to buy the stuff I want?
I made choices. WE made choices. We chose to skip some areas of life in order to be able to have others. We didn't magically end up this way. And all of the people who wish they too could be doing BJJ and climbing rocks, well go ahead! Do it! Stop living the life you think you are supposed to live and go live the one you want instead.
I made choices. WE made choices. We chose to skip some areas of life in order to be able to have others. We didn't magically end up this way. And all of the people who wish they too could be doing BJJ and climbing rocks, well go ahead! Do it! Stop living the life you think you are supposed to live and go live the one you want instead.
Of course we are not happy all of the time. Of course we have stress and fear and pain. And in case you are wondering, of course I know that this all could end. At any moment one of us could get sick or injured. The dojo could fail and we could have to both go get 9 to 5 jobs.
Do I really need to say this in order to then tell you about how much I love to rock climb?
And no I do not think we are better than you. But we are pretty damn cool. Not because we are wild adventurers, but because we are grown ass adults who have chosen to learn a new skill. We are cool because we have chosen to get out there and DO something instead of just watching everyone else do things on the Internet.
And you, you can do it too. If you want to, that is. Go do something. Like really do it. Learn something new. Have fun. Play.
Or something like that anyway. I am no Tony Robbins.
And yes, it is scary as f%ck up on that cliff face but once you get over that it is absolutely amazing.
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