Last Friday night I did something I'd never done before--indoor rock climbing.
Lucas (one of our neighbors) has put together a group (The GO Girls) who goes out and does a fun activity every month. It's really cool. (She is so motivated!) We went to a place called
Vertical Endeavors. I wasn't nervous at all beforehand. I'm not afraid of heights, and I figured we'd be strapped in, and you just climb up a wall and whatever. No problem! Our group went through the very short orientation, where they gave us basic safety instructions and that was about it. We put on our harnesses and very tight shoes and then just started climbing up. I realized pretty quickly that it was going to be more challenging than I had anticipated. In fact, the first time I went up, I got to the top of the wall, looked down, and completely froze. It suddenly occurred to me that I didn't want to let go, nor did I want to climb back down. Unfortunately, those were the only two options. So eventually I just let go.
Tip: When rock climbing, don't just let go when you get to the top. Stick out your feet and use them to bounce against the wall. That works much better than bouncing against your back, butt, elbows, etc., which is what I did.
So that kind of sucked. To be honest, I really didn't want to go up again. But then I realized my fear would be winning, and I didn't want that to happen. So I went up again and then one more time. And that was enough for me. It was really interesting to see how some of the women in our group really blossomed as they overcame their fears. One woman climbed down the first time because she was too afraid to let go; after another eight or so times of climbing, she was practically glowing! Another woman was literally shaking and could hardly move after her first trip back down the wall. But, again, the more she did it, the more confident she was.
It was fun to watch the other people in our group and also some of the people who obviously do this a LOT! I don't think rock climbing is really my sport, but I'm glad I tried it.
Last Friday night I did something I'd never done before--indoor rock climbing. Lucas (one of our neighbors) has put together a group (The GO Girls) who goes out and does a fun activity every month. It's really cool. (She is so motivated!) We went to a place called Vertical Endeavors. I wasn't nervous at all beforehand. I'm not afraid of heights, and I figured we'd be strapped in, and you just climb up a wall and whatever. No problem! Our group went through the very short orientation, where they gave us basic safety instructions and that was about it. We put on our harnesses and very tight shoes and then just started climbing up. I realized pretty quickly that it was going to be more challenging than I had anticipated. In fact, the first time I went up, I got to the top of the wall, looked down, and completely froze. It suddenly occurred to me that I didn't want to let go, nor did I want to climb back down. Unfortunately, those were the only two options. So eventually I just let go. 
Tip: When rock climbing, don't just let go when you get to the top. Stick out your feet and use them to bounce against the wall. That works much better than bouncing against your back, butt, elbows, etc., which is what I did. 
So that kind of sucked. To be honest, I really didn't want to go up again. But then I realized my fear would be winning, and I didn't want that to happen. So I went up again and then one more time. And that was enough for me. It was really interesting to see how some of the women in our group really blossomed as they overcame their fears. One woman climbed down the first time because she was too afraid to let go; after another eight or so times of climbing, she was practically glowing! Another woman was literally shaking and could hardly move after her first trip back down the wall. But, again, the more she did it, the more confident she was. 
It was fun to watch the other people in our group and also some of the people who obviously do this a LOT! I don't think rock climbing is really my sport, but I'm glad I tried it.
1 comments:
Julie,
It was so great to have you there and you did a GREAT job! Hope you can make the next GO! Girls event. Time to get your bounce on!
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