Growth or Gratitude

The beauty of the human spirit is the capacity to navigate struggle, the beauty to overcome. When we see it in action, we call it grace.

As a climber, the irony is that we create struggle. We find a route or problem, that forces us to focus on figuring out what we need to do overcome the problem, to send. For most sports this is true. After all, football players really do not have to fight over getting the ball over the end zone, they could just take turns, the same way climbers could just go up the descent to get to the top.

The beauty of this struggle to send our project is the connection we make sharing the struggle with others, it is the focus we must cultivate, an inner stillness that allows us to remember the nuances. The sense of inner strength to fail again and be patient, curious of how to not fail. The final ingredient is the ability to let go of the struggle, even before completing the route without falling. 
If your ascents don't have all these ingredients, I would suggest you could be climbing harder. ​

My mother used to say, "God only gives you what you can handle." Maybe she was right. Or maybe we learn how to handle struggle because of the adversity along the way teaching us what we are capable of. Either way, in struggle, there is the gift of new growth, maturity. In the ease, the opportunity for gratitude and appreciation.