Climbing, Career, Balance
- August 2020
- Hi Steph Simple Living
Hi Steph,
Nice to meet you! I just watched CHOICES and so many aspects of your story and way of approaching life resonated with mine, so I thought I would reach out. I hope it’s ok that I’m coming to you with a few life questions.
Like you, I was very academically focused growing up and excelling in school was part of my identity. I never really questioned the idea that I would get an advanced degree after undergrad – I toyed with the idea of getting an MFA but ended up applying to medical school instead and just started school a few weeks ago. I discovered climbing my sophomore year of college when some friends took me to this tiny, run-down gym in CT. It was unlike anything I had experienced before and it turned my whole world upside down. I brought my rope to class to get a few pitches in before dark, all my breaks were spent climbing, and I work for a climbing nonprofit on the side. I moved to SLC after college and found my niche in mentally-challenging granite trad routes in LCC.
I’ve also experienced a lot of loss in my 22 years of life, which has forced me to always take a step back and re-evaluate my path in the grand scheme of things. I find medicine so incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, but the lack of freedom/time is already a challenge, and I would love to find a way to be both fulfilled and free.
I was wondering if you have any recommendations, having made a similar choice yourself between law school and climbing. I’m struggling with the notion of never knowing what I could achieve in climbing if I had pursued a different life. At the same time, I’m worried about finding continued fulfillment in climbing and having it become too much like an addiction. How have you found balance and has climbing always fulfilled you?
Sorry for the long message and all the questions, I really think I could learn a lot from your perspective if you are willing to share it with me.
Thank you for your time,
L
Hi L,
My brother is a doctor, and I know that med school and residency are very time and energy intensive. Nonetheless, through both med school and residency, he was climbing a lot and putting up first ascents. He doesn’t climb any more because of a shoulder injury, and also because he got into surfing, skiing, BASE jumping, skydiving, jiujitsu, speed flying and paragliding. He was seriously considering the Coast Guard before med school, and sometimes he says he regrets not pursuing that–now he’s flying small planes as well. And every once in a while he says he wishes he’d gone into orthopedic surgery instead of ER medicine. But overall, I think he is very happy with his career, and it definitely never stops him from doing a lot of different sports at a high level, and in many ways his career is what allows him to do them.
You do need a way to finance life. Over the years I’ve learned that a lot of single-focus climbers and athletes are independently wealthy or have a supportive spouse with a lucrative job–for those of us who are not in that group, career focus is always going to be part of the life balance equation.
When I decided to leave law school, it was because I pretty quickly discovered that I had an aptitude for law, but I didn’t have a powerful draw to it. However, I always like to remind people that I do have bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and I will never advocate for simply chucking school (unless you’re in danger of getting overly burdened by debt for it). During the years when I only climbed (living in my car and working just enough to get by as a waitress and climbing guide), I definitely felt the lack of a fulfilling career, as well as the lack of any kind of financial security. When you’re actually climbing, it’s great, but the reality is you can only climb so much and then you need rest days, which can feel very long and unproductive. Injury or sickness can also give you an unwanted and long stretch of rest days, and really take the glamour out of being a dirtbag climber.
It wasn’t long before I started to prioritize career and financial stability as much as climbing. I needed to find the thing that I was drawn toward and that fit into my vision of life balance–in my case, that developed into an entrepreneurial and very diversified path that is only in part connected to the outdoor industry. I haven’t always gotten to climb and adventure as much as I wanted to over the years, because time has sometimes been stretched very thin between work priorities and the demands of life. I also juggle very equal passions for trail running, BASE jumping, wingsuiting, training and domestic pursuits with my love for climbing. Although as my husband can attest, I definitely complain a lot when I don’t get to climb as much as I want to, I know the balance between all of these moving parts has been part of what has kept climbing fun and inspiring for so many years.
Based on your description of medicine as very rewarding and fulfilling for you, it seems like letting go of it might be something of a sacrifice. So that’s the primary question I’d be asking myself if I were you.
There are a LOT of high level athletes out there who are in the medical field–I can think of 4 off the top of my head at the Moab Hospital and several more in Salt Lake–and this makes me think that it’s very possible to keep high level climbing (and other outdoor sports) in the mix during med school and residency. I would love to hear more from others on this topic!
Steph
