Blog

Talking About Choices

• April 2008
• Training Uncategorized

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Hi, I am from Poland, I’m a very young (17) climber because I’ve already started climbing (in september 2007) but from very beginning it became my biggest passion.

I want say great thanks, because of You, and other great climbers about I read so much I take motivation to fight with my weakness, like a fear from falling, when I lead. – now I hardly don’t feel this terrible dread. 🙂 In climbing magazines I read about your “climbing life” and other climbers and I dream that maybe in 10 years 🙂 I also will achieve big walls etc. But what is the most important, because of climbing I won with my terrible illness – anorexia. There was the moment that I coudn’t see any sense in my life – only fear of putting on weight. And then my dad gave me magazine in which I found article about You and salathe wall. Now, when I wake up I think about my training, my climbing friends from my club, my plans for holidays. (Not “Oh my god how I’m fat-I have drink only water”….) So thank You veeeeery much!
Sorry for all my mistakes,
Best wishes,
Maria Rupinska 😀
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steph-
i just read your book. It’s awesome! i enjoyed reading
every part. my girlfriend read it and then i stole it
from her to read it, next thing i know my girlfriend
is fully stoked on climbing! …and that’s obviously a
very good thing for me. so thanks, i appreciate your
time and effort in giving back to the climbing
community. It’s very appreciated. my friend started out
a lot like you. practicing hours on end through her
childhood, now she is a double major. music and
english. anyway, i know you’re busy, but it would be
cool if you had some extra time to drop her an email.
some encouragement. i don’t know, if you have time, if
not no worries.
Quin Stevenson
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Hi,
I am a huge fan but I have a question that needs answering so I’m going to get to the point!
I’ve been climbing, sport and bouldering and I love it. I could spend my whole life training, traveling, networking, looking at climbs thinking about climbs etc. I’m pretty obsessed. However I’m 23 now and people want me to have a career and climb on the weekends. This is something I’m struggling with right now. What do I do/how do I support myself as a professional adventurer? How do you live, if you don’t mind me asking? I need to know is it possible to be a ‘full time’ climber and at least subsist enough to have the money to travel and climb harder, better etc? People who care about me want to know what I’m going to do with my life (i.e. what job I will have). And I just want to climb mountains. Is this possible? And how can I achieve it? I would really appreciate any advice you had on the life logistics of making climbing your dharma.
Thanks so much,
A young woman in Boulder

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I don’t want to get too sappy here. But….I have no choice.

When I get your letters, I read them and literally cry–in a good way! I feel so touched and so humbled that you would share these thoughts with me, and seek my opinion. You notice, if you write to me, that often some weeks go by. These questions are really profound, and have no easy answers, and I appreciate them even more because they make me think a lot. To me, this is the meaning of climbing, the meaning of BASE jumping, the meaning of adventure, the meaning of the mountains, the meaning of life: to feel and think about things deeply, and learn to live the best life possible. I always think about your letters and your words while I am out climbing, or just sitting quietly, and it does bring tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for writing to me.

As always, it’s amazing to me how we are all going through the same things, the same doubts and questions of wild people trying to fit into a not-so-wild system, and wondering what to do and how to do it….. It can be scary and energy sucking, when you just don’t know what’s the right way to go. I know for myself, I was brought up to follow a very straight and narrow path. It felt totally wrong for me, yet leaving it seemed like a drastic, impetuous, committing decision, one that I might regret deeply when I became “older and wiser.” I found then, and continue to find, that I must follow my heart. I must follow my passion. If I do things only because I think I “should” do them, everything falls apart. If I follow my heart, everything falls together. Always.

At the same time, I have never believed in total recklessness. I like to take risks, but I also like to make sure I have managed the risk carefully and done meticulous groundwork to prepare for any committing endeavor—whether in climbing or in life. I believe that happiness is associated with effort and hard work, and that hard work feels great when it is fueled by passionate motivation. So to use climbing as a metaphor for life, when you want to do a big climb, there are going to be many many elements of the preparation that are not fun in themselves, but those “chores” feel satisfying and inspiring because you know that doing them is slowly building towards this project that has you so fired up.

At first, I did that hard, slow groundwork with ambivalence (rather than total dislike), because I knew it was taking me where I wanted to go. As time went by, I actually have grown to love the groundwork of big projects, and enjoy it as much or more as actually completing the project itself. Work is delightful when it is part of something that inspires you. Being busy and productive is perhaps the happiest way to live. Don’t be afraid to do work, even if sometimes it seems “pointless” or not where your passion sits….sometimes it takes a while for the connections to become clear. On the other hand, spinning your wheels in the wrong ruts will get you nowhere. If you know you are heading the wrong way, at some point, you are going to have to crank the wheel or just get out of the car and start walking!

I do think it is possible to live a balanced life, even for a passionate climber, in a way that is not the normal, prescribed path. I also think this is a fairly daunting task, as it requires you to create your own path, and this is the task of a lifetime and demands a lot of self-motivation and uncertainty. The good news is, all you have to do is to stop worrying about it! Over the past eighteen years of following this path, I have slowly discovered that positive energy is all you need. Follow your heart. Be positive about everything in your life, and don’t allow negativity to be a part of your reality, ever. Don’t worry about anything that happens. . . .rather, focus on being a good, compassionate person, and always think carefully about how to handle things in the best way you can. If you live like this, everything you do will be good, and everything that happens to you will lead to more good, even if it seems at first like something bad. If you put all your energy into living well, you will be happy, and everything else will fall into place.

So don’t think about “what career should I have, how should I please my parents, etc.” Instead, think about smiling, sending good thoughts to others, and greeting everything with positive energy. And then see where you find yourself. I think it will be a very good place….
xx Steph