Why do you climb?

"Because it's there.." iconic words uttered by George Mallory when asked about why he wanted to climb the Mt Everest.

I think of these words as I finished my my first climbing session after more than a year recently. I've been climbing for almost 18 years now, my drive to climb has ebbed and flowed depending on the life circumstances, but I keep coming back to it. I'm not saying I'm an hardcore climber, I'm just saying I have been around the block for a while. I say this not to brag about myself but because even today despite climbing for so long, I'm still astonished with what the human body is capable of, hanging on to the smallest of the holds, getting into weird positions 70ft off the ground and still managing to reach for the next hold. This right here is why I keep coming back to climbing, it’s the perfect metaphor for life, the realization, this cognitive understanding that you can hold on to the smallest of the holds and still make it to the next one and eventually to the top, no matter what is being thrown at you. you work at it, you project it, try different moves, and figure out a way to make it to the top.

This understanding has been my bedrock during some of my hardest personal and professional struggles, It's sometimes east to loose sight of this. This pandemic has really tested everyone of us and as we go through this together, it is this again understanding that has allowed me to hold on, when everything around me seems like it’s falling apart.

So, if you ask me, "why do you climb?" My answer isn't "because it's there", but because it reminds me I can hold on to the smallest of the hold and still make the next move.