Lessons from Bouldering on How to Overcome Adversity

Improvise, Adapt, & Overcome

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It’s the reason we love Bear Grylls so much. He overcomes anything the world throws at him. There’s not a single scenario that defeats him or makes him quit. We are so prone to giving up sometimes, but watching someone defeat all odds is inspiring. Few of us would ever actually go to his lengths and even fewer would survive if they tried, but something about watching a person climb a waterfall can awaken a primal instinct to overcome. We, as humans programmed for survival, are not meant to get stuck, quit or lay down - we overcome to survive.

Bouldering is a sport that mimics that survival situation, one wrong move and you fall, forced to start over. To make it to the top, we must evaluate the route before we climb but we also must be able to adapt and know our limits. Life is like that too.

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Prepare For the Challenge

Bouldering has taught me that through preparation, that fear and anxiety can disappear, replaced by confidence. Before getting on the wall, climbers map out where and how they need to move their body in order to reach the top. When people get to points in life, overthinking and little preparation ruins momentum. At some point muscles fail, body position is compromised and we are forced to fall.

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Know Your Abilities and Never Stop Learning

If I know me, I can control me. In sport and in life, if we choose something without understanding if it's in our best interest, it's doomed to failure.

You can learn an absurd amount of details from watching, you learn what works, learn what doesn’t. “Never stop learning” was a very important mantra passed down from my Mother. If you do anything with your life just never stop learning. When you stop learning, you get stuck. By watching others we can adapt to environments and cultures. We learn through others.

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Failure is Another Chance for Success

I’m not entirely sure where my resilience comes from, or what drives me to defeat everything that comes at me. But every time we fall off the wall (it always happens) is another chance to try again. Goal setting is critical to progress. Something to measure against. Something to motivate. That makes us proud of ourselves. Bouldering is simply a test of ourselves. Just like in our daily lives. No matter if I have bad days, I keep showing up. Get up off the mat, strategize, try again.

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