The Fear Chronicles 1
As you may know, I’ve been running crack climbing clinics in Moab and Indian Creek for the last 3 years now. When people register, I ask them what they are most interested in learning. Invariably, at least one person (and usually a few) says, “I want to learn how to deal with fear when climbing.”
I also receive a lot of interview requests from people as diverse as Bulgarian climbing websites to airplane magazines to yoga studios to weed growing journals, and the one question everyone asks is: “You do a lot of scary things. How do you deal with fear?”
Apparently many folks think I’m particularly brave, I have no fear, or I have some simple formula I use in order to not be afraid while doing scary things. I think you know where this is going….I hate to disappoint people 🙁 However, it’s true that I’ve been doing things that scare me for a very long time, and so far I’m still around to think about them. I’ve also lived through some of my worst fears. So I have spent a lot of time dealing with fear and trying to understand it.
Here’s what I know about fear right now: it’s the opposite of love. It’s confusing. Sometimes it helps you, sometimes it hurts you. Not doing things because you’re afraid makes you a slave. Doing things solely because you’re afraid makes you a pawn. If you don’t figure out how it’s influencing you, you will either be trapped and unhappy or injured/dead. You have a relationship with fear, and that relationship will change for the rest of your life. Thinking about it and talking about it will help you to understand that relationship.
Recently I noticed how much I talk about fear with my friends–amazing athletes who are doing extremely terrifying things on a regular basis. And I know too that I think about it by myself a lot. So my idea is to do some posts here where I share with you some of these ideas. I’m telling you upfront that I don’t think there really are any answers, but anyway we can talk about it.
What do you think?
I guess climbing on crack would help you deal with fear but I’m not sure if it is a good idea.
I like the endless loop tune tactic too 🙂
😛
I have been thinking about the problem of fear and the relationship thereof to commitment. When I was a boy, I attempted a free solo of a formation leading to Lion’s Back, the eastern overlook of Moab. On taking my first handhold, I realized that once I used it, I must either continue upward, *and* be able to reverse the move(s). Fear prevented both.
A few years later, a group of high school chums and I visited Boulder Dam, and I decided to impress them with a feat of daring. I climbed over the thick concrete waterward wall and made a partial (fingers, forearms and knees) hanging move, while my fellows called to stop me before the park police could. From a rock climber’s perspective, this was a pointless move, but from mine, confident, and defiant of fear.
But there was no commitment, no goal. Having a goal is paramount.
Which leads me to the reason I am here today. A climber and math teacher relatively recently wrote in his blog (Math with Bad Drawings) a poignant piece on the relationship of climbing, math, and fear (or frustration), and I thought of your brother and you. If you could teach him climbing, and help him, where and if necessary, to overcome fear, could he (or others) not help you, where and if necessary, with math?
Strike “either” from first paragraph. >;
Postscript: when Newton created the Calculus, he was a pioneer. He must have made mistakes along the way. Failures. He, like you, was an overcomer.
Steph,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I plan on sharing this series on my Vertical Mind facebook page, since people there will like it.
Don McGrath, co-author of Vertical Mind (www.verticalmindbook.com)
thanks Don!