In one of the recreation centers in our hometown, there are a set of rock climbing walls. Over the past couple of weeks that my kids have been off of school, we’ve gone to climb there. It’s super lowkey, it has 5 walls with varying levels of difficulty. Over the course of the last couple of days my oldest kids have been trying to beat each other’s time reaching the top of wall 1–the easiest wall. My oldest started out with a time of 1 minute and 3 seconds on his first attempt. His friend went faster than him, so he stepped it up, and climbed again coming in at 55 seconds. He ultimately shaved off time to the point where he was at 26 seconds at his fastest. He felt happy with this climb, then heard of the fastest time that the workers had heard of for that wall…which was 7 seconds. So, he continued to attempt to beat his 26 seconds and continued to come in around the same time.
Finally, one of the workers that was there suggested that he use some of the climbing shoes that they provide and see if he could beat his time. He agreed and put some on. His first attempt with the shoes was 30 seconds. Disappointing. After some instruction in regards to how the shoes worked, my oldest attempted on some other walls. He tried out wall 1 again. 23 seconds! Feeling pleased that he had finally beat his old record, I suggested he try to get under 20 seconds. After consulting his tiring grip and tight forearms, he agreed and tried again. 26 seconds. Finally he took a break from it and allowed some others to climb the wall. He decided to give it one last attempt. This final time he cruised! His steps were smooth and his reach was sure. 18 seconds!! Victory! Not only did he shave 8 seconds off of his previous, seemingly impossible record, he did it after having climbed some 20 odd times up the wall. By the end his fingers were fatigued, but his spirits were invigorated!
It made me reflect on how goals can, and should work for us. We start where we are, and just grow better from there. Sometimes we make huge strides, sometimes we slip, but ultimately, the hope is that we continue to head in the right direction. What may seem impossible at the first becomes increasingly probable as we don’t give up. The thing that made the difference for my son in this situation, however, was help from others with the right equipment. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he didn’t have all the proper equipment for the task at hand. Once he was outfitted appropriately, he was able to outdo what he had previously thought unlikely for himself.
My other children experienced similar, encouraging progress as they continued to climb, feeling excited to try again and again even beyond the fatigue that would have stopped them previously.
I hope to emulate this example of effort and humility with my own goals this year. May we all try a little harder and be open to help from others in getting insight into how we may achieve them a little better. And may we do it before we have to climb a rock wall 20 times!!! 🙂
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Kayleen
