279: OVERHANGING FEAR

It looks even more daunting in person

Today, I managed to climb up the giant overhang at Cliffhanger! I was so happy because it was my first time going up that stretch of wall, since the routes are usually way too advanced for me. I had tried to do it last time but didn't have enough arm strength left that day - I ended up letting go near the start of the overhang, which was a bad idea because it led to me swinging around wildly in the air. It was so scary! What made it worse was that I couldn't gain enough momentum to get back to the wall. There I was, swinging in the air, frantically pumping my legs, trying to grab a rock or a clip attached to the wall, but to no avail. I just started spinning around in the wrong direction.

After some time, Anna started yelling at me from the ground, and then Bryan and Aaron, who were at the other side of the climbing gym, also started yelling at me, and when I looked down, I saw a LOT of people watching me with smirks on their faces. A guy climbing up the route beside mine even tried to give me advice on how to get back to the wall, but it didn't help. I did eventually end up getting a hold of a rock on the wall, but it just took a very, very long time. And then by that time all I wanted to do was to clip in the rope and to come back down, because all that swinging around had really freaked me out.

But today, I overcame my fear of falling and swinging from the overhang, and I forced myself to climb all the way up without letting go. I made sure I climbed it with fresh arms. SUCCESS. Now I can't wait to go back and re-climb this route.