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General Climbing Discussion

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Climbing and Anxiety 2-Aug-2005 At 9:25:51 AM rhinckle

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the reason i climb is that i'm naturally anxious.

fear can stop you in your tracks, or provide the chemistry to transcend your limitiations.
you all know the difference between being gripped and passing through that barrier.
the joy of passing through your fear.
if you are just cruising up something easy, you don't find yourself hyperventilating and over gripping and generally pumping out in head, heart and body.

the fact that the barrier exixts is what makes the slow and strenuous art of getting up a hill by the most difficult route possible something worth doing.
the crux of the matter is how one makes that decision to make the impossible possible.

fight or flight is a problem in the 'real' world, because mostly there is no chance to turn that reflex into action. you can neither kill your boss nor run away and hide.
passing a personal crux dabbles in that psychological zone where instead of backing off and being reasonable, you commit, face death, win (or lose) and, like childhood games of bovinepersons and native americans, you get to count to ten and be alive again.
(except if you're soloing, then it's even better).