There is something so peaceful and freeing about climbing. BUT there is also something aggravating and fear inducing about it as well. Oh the beautiful joys of the sport! I truly can not get enough of climbing, it’s something I look forward to after a long day working. It’s like a little escape, where I can focus all my energy into one thing, mentally and physically. Althoughhhhh I also have this really annoying trait where I’m constantly concerned with how I’m perceived. So this little nagging voice makes it extremely hard to get up the nerve to climb in front of others.
It’s not so bad when I’m climbing at the gym, because everyone is more or less doing their own thing and focused on what they are climbing. But, when it comes to climbing outside, and everyone is watching you try a climb, it can be so nerve-wracking! Is it just me??? It’s not that I feel like I will be laughed at for not being able to do the climb, it’s more so the fact that my brain is like lol girl you suck. Super not cool, super not fair.
When I joined the climbing community I was able to meet a lot of wonderful people, a lot of them through Luke. Stumbling into the community as a newbie, and climbing with others who are so good and have been at it for a while, is certainly intimidating. Don’t get me wrong I love climbing with them, and they always have great feedback, but I can feel like a nuisance projecting a V4/V5 while they are projecting a V10 ( I know it’s my brain doing this and not reality). For me, climbing in front of them, friends or not, can just feel so intimidating…..so how do we correct this????
It’s one thing to tell yourself that it doesn’t matter, and another thing to truly believe it. While I don’t think I will every fully be rid of this fear, every day I climb it gets a little bit better! Climbing has brought some insecurities to light for me, but at the same time I feel like it is constantly improving them as well. I am an insecure person in a lot of aspects of my life, but climbing truly has helped me step by step work through these. (geez I feel like a self help ad right now lol)
At the end of the day I have to just keep telling myself climbing is fine, you enjoy it, so don’t let that be taken away by your own brain!
Also ayo where my fellow V4/V5 climbers at?!
Sad SENDS 
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