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Reading On Fear

• January 2018
• Hi Steph Climb

Hi Steph,
I am excited to write to you and grateful that the interwebs provide the opportunity for us to connect even though we’ve never met. I’ve read both of your books and really enjoy reading your blog and I have to say – it is so beautiful how you find courage, beauty, and magic in all of life’s craziness – from the greatest heights to the lowest lows. I am a climber, climate scientist and a wanderer in my own way, and just like everybody else I too struggle with questions, doubts and decisions. And in this, I often times catch myself thinking about fear. Fear is such a powerful emotion and can really hold us back from unleashing our true potential. It can also be a powerful force pushing us to pursue things out of fear to miss out or just chasing the emotion, the adrenaline. I find your thoughts on fear to be particularly interesting and insightful and wanted to ask if you could recommend any books on the subject. In climbing I, I admit that I am afraid to fall, but I am aware of it and work hard to not let it affect my performance, by intentionally and gradually exploring and expanding my comfort zone. In life’s big decisions – it’s not as straightforward, so I just want to learn more about how fear affects us – the science, the psychology, all of it, so I can be better at controlling it both in climbing and when making life-changing decisions. Thanks for reading and thanks for always inspiring and motivating me to be a better person, environmentalist and climber.
Gee

Hi Gee,
I just got a copy of Fear!: Extreme Athletes on How to Reach Your Highest Goals and Conquer Fear and Self Doubt by Roanne Van Voorst, and I think this is exactly the book you are interested in reading!

I did an interview with Roanne for this book which was originally published in the Netherlands, and she has just come out with the US edition–you can pre order, because it comes out February 21. I thought it was a great read–I especially liked the chapters with Catherine Destivelle, Alain Robert and Edurne Pasaban, and as a climber I am sure you will get a lot from everyone’s stories and their perspectives on their relationship with fear and how they manage it. Roanne interviewed many interesting adventurers: Alex Honnold, Lynn Hill, Hazel Findlay, Arno Ilgner, Jorg Verhoeven, Dan Goodwin, Cedric Cumont, Don McGrath, Alexander Schulz, Rebecca Williams and Martin Fickweiler are the others.

I recommend you check it out!
Steph