One of the wisest things I've heard in a long time was spoken by someone who climbs walls for a living.
Yesterday I went indoor rock climbing for the first time with some co-workers. The rock climbing walls were about 4 or 5 stories high. Most of the hand and toeholds didn't look that big; some of them were so small they looked like candy drops on cookies. But I thought it wouldn't be too hard, since I lift weights at the gym every week. I had hiked (small) mountains, rafted for hours on a river, and even jumped out of an airplane once. A wall? No problem.
The first wall I went up was designated an intermediate climb. Around 3/4s of the way up, I couldn't believe it I got tired. It takes me over an hour to get tired of lifting weights, but climbing a wall? Less than five minutes. I eventually made it up (after resting on that wall for another five minutes).
For the second climb, I played it safe and chose the beginner climb - what they called a confidence climb. The trainer said, It's too easy for you. (She obviously didn't know how tired I was.) I said, Are you kidding? I might not even make it. I made it, but it was still a little tough near the top. I have no idea why they called it a confidence climb, since I felt drained of both energy and confidence. I didn't think I had any strength left for a third climb, but I had 20 minutes left, so I gave it a try anyway. I got 2/3rds of the way up before I stalled. I tried 3 times to go higher, but failed. So I quit. I was just too tired. All my strength was gone.
As I was resting on the bench, a couple of kids came in with their father. They were no more than 10 years old. They chose the beginner wall, the one I just climbed. They went up like spiders. It took them two minutes. They did it without any fear, and almost without stopping. I pointed them out to my co-worker, and he said, That's nothing. See that other kid over there? She's the daughter of one of the trainers. She can climb up any of these walls without a problem. Now she's really amazing. She looked 10 years old, too. How can people who are half as short and 1/3 my age climb up so fast?
So I asked a trainer nearby, How come those kids can climb so well? Is it because they start out young? And he said, No, it's not really about age or strength. Almost anybody can climb these walls. You just have to learn when and where to expend your energy. You have to know how to look at the wall and yourself, and learn which way up is the best for you. If you don't learn how to do that, you'll waste your energy in places where you shouldn't. When that happens, you'll get tired very quickly and fall.
He was talking about climbing, but to me it felt like he was talking about life. I think this is a principle we can potentially apply in many areas of life. Anytime we start finding ourselves tired, perhaps it's because we've misallocated our energies. Tiredness may not be just a result of working hard, but also a consequence of working inefficiently. Perhaps we've tried too hard and wasted our resources in certain places, when we should have rested instead, or given up and gone a different route. Instead of just working hard, maybe we need to learn how to work differently - and more wisely. Perhaps we try too hard to fight and overcome the walls in our lives, when instead we should work with them so that we can eventually climb above them.
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