Climbing - focus, Shrink your world, climb.
One of the things I like about climbing is that it focuses your world into a tiny amount of space for a short period of time. Everything shrinks for a moment, time stops. Then you come back.
Bouldering mats placed, shoes cleaned, hands chalked. Preparation done, just one thing left to do - climb.
Stand back, look at the route, look at the holds, the scoops for feet, pockets, ridges and edges for fingers. Look at the balance of your body, how will the holds feel under body weight. Feel the moves, how do I shift my weight. Imagine flowing up the rock, fighting gravity all the way up. Pain in fingers on the sharp edges, pains in tired spent muscles and pain in feet crushed into shoes, that are too small. Climbing, here we go.
Stepping forward, touch the rock, take hold of the holds. How do they feel in my hands? Firm, precise and solid. One foot placed on a smear, it sticks, transfer weight onto it and lift the other foot onto another hold. I am on the route and all feels solid as I start to make the sequence of moves. Feeling my weight shift between hands, arms, body, legs and feet.
Feel each take their portion of my weight, shifting my body to make space for the next move, the next sequence. The holds flowing beneath me. Everything is in sync. Breathing relaxed and deep. Only to focus on the next move. Everything around me disappears. This is what happens, you get absorbed into the moment, only the present matters. Your world shrinks to the piece of rock before you. Nothing else matters.
The ground continues to fall away.
The holds get smaller.
Control the movement, control the breath, control every instinct that says “Drop down, don’t go any further!”
The moves continue to flow, body is working well, balanced and controlled movement.
Then hands find the top, it is secure. Pull up and over. Stand tall and breathe deep and slow. Feeling the adrenalin flowing round my body and the resulting buzz starting to soak into my body. The world returns. My space widens once more. The trees, the view and rocks fill my space once more.
My world expands once again.
Carefully down celebrating my little success.
