Raleigh North Carolina Based Rock Climbing Guiding, Climbing Trips, Climbing Classes and Instruction » life

Working Through Problems (In Life and in Climbing)

brandon — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:34:30 +0000

Well…at Ascent Adventure Consultants over the past few weeks we have experienced a HUGE setback, in that our website went down. But now thanks to our designers, The Infantree (www.theinfantree.com), we are back in full swing. As I was sitting here this morning thinking about what to write to alert everyone that the site is back, I was thinking how climbing has prepared me to handle situations like this.

Climbing has taught me:

When I encounter an obstacle, instead of just continuing to press forward haphazardly, I take time to look at my guidebook and resources, plan out the appropriate route, and make sure I have the necessary tools.
When I set out to accomplish something, I’m not afraid of giving it full commitment, since I know that I have prepared adequately.
I learn to trust the process. I go through the thoughts in my mind to help myself realize that the preparation I have done ahead of time helps me to take the risks now, and that many people have faced similar challenges in the past and have overcome using the same steps.

Just thought I’d share a quick thought on that!

Pole Pole: The Mantra of Kilimanjaro

brandon — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:40:54 +0000

One of the things that we heard over and over again on Kilimanjaro was the porters and guides saying “Pole Pole” (pronounced pole-ay pole-ay). The translation is “GO SLOWLY.” Not only was this applicable on the mountain, but in the rest of the Tanzanians lives. Of course on the mountain going slowly was key to acclimatizing as we rapidly gained altitude. However we quickly noticed that Tanzanians have a special gift to be able to live life “Pole Pole.” They recognize that life is too important to have each moment lost in the hustle and bustle. Rather, they take time to enjoy life, enjoy family, enjoy friends, and don’t occupy themselves with worry and stress. For example, we expected that every morning we would be getting up at 5:00am and quickly hitting the trail. But no…they wanted us to sleep until 7, then brought us hot water to wash our faces, made us tea and breakfast, and we hit the trail at 8:30am.

Of course, the reason our county is so progressive, and the reason that we have wealth etc. is because we have mastered the art of multi tasking, working non stop etc. I’m not advocating that we stop working hard by any means. That’s what makes our lives comfortable here. And it is also simply a cultural difference. But I am advocating that we all take time to see how much we miss out on life if we are not slowing down and stopping to enjoy life, family, friends, and leisure time as well.

Learning to Rest: The Climbing Experience Applied to All of Life

brandon — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:11:01 +0000

I have been spending time thinking lately about the importance of rest; rest from physical training for climbing, and rest from the hectic pace of life. By doing some research, and through personal experience, I’ve learned that the body does not get stronger, or build endurance during exercise. It is during rest and sleep after exercise that the body goes into “super-recovery” mode and begins to build muscle and build endurance, both aerobic and anaerobic.

So a person who climbs 4 days a week and trains 3 days a week, will not become as strong as a person who maybe climbs 3 days a week, trains 2, and takes 2 days off. In the same way, it is important that climbers train antagonist muscles; muscles that aren’t used for climbing. This creates muscular balance and prevents injury. For example, climbing involves a lot of pull-muscle use. Doing shoulder presses as antagonist training is important to create that balance. So the principle stands that in climbing and training for climbing, it is imperative that one rests and takes recovery days, or else they will hit a plateau, lose interest, and/or be injured.

It’s amazing how this translates into real life. I’ve been reflecting on how I work non stop. I’m always on top of my emails since I get my emails on my phone, every free moment I have I get out my computer to start working on some project….the list just goes on and on. I realize that if I don’t take time to rest and if I don’t take time to train my mental antagonist muscles, I will hit a plateau and lose interest, just like I would by not resting from climbing training! So I’ve made a commitment that one day a week, Sundays, I’m not going to work. I’ll do things I enjoy, I’ll sleep a few extra hours, I’ll spend time with my family, etc. This will ultimately benefit me and I look forward to seeing the changes it brings about.

Tools for Dealing with Uncertainty Part 3: Being Optimistic

brandon — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:12:00 +0000

A person can teach themselves to overcome learned helplessness and be more optimistic. As with all forms of mental discipline, from sports psychology to the suggestions below, they seem simplistic and somewhat silly when written on paper. However such disciplines, like exercise, healthy eating, systematic investing, and others, can have powerful effects when applied consistently and intelligently over time. They are not magic. But, they do work.
Is being optimistic an advantage? People with high scores for the optimistic explanatory style has been shown to have to be the ones “immune” to learned helplessness. Other significant benefits have been documented:

Optimism has been correlated with better immune systems in healthy people who have been subjected to stress.
Both lab research and survey research indicate that positive emotions help people who were previously under stress relax back to their physiological baseline.
Positive emotions that come from optimism broaden one’s awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. Over time, this broadened behavioral repertoire builds skills and resources

The method for change is on the principles of what Positive Psychology calls “ABCDE” for Adversity, Beliefs, Consequences, Disputation and Distraction, and Energization. In the next entry we will explore these tools.

- Author: Danny McCracken (dmccracken@ascentadventure.com)

A Meaningful Wilderness Experience

brandon — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:45:19 +0000

It’s amazing to see how many articles have been popping up all over the internet and in print media lately about how having a wilderness experience, whether its climbing, hiking, camping, kayaking, backpacking, etc., can greatly impact your life for years to come. I read another article this morning, this time out of Austrailia, on how having a wilderness experience gives a new perspective on life. They theorize that it’s because when out in nature, you realize how small you are and that you are part of something far bigger. Check out the article here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/03/2616497.htm.

Now I’m trying to theorize why this topic has all of a sudden jumped in popularity. About 1 month ago, I started weekly posts on how the Climbing Experience applies to all of life. Then articles started appearing all over the place. Of course I’d like to think that people saw me as the trend setter! But, for a more realistic theory, I’d say that it’s because we’re in the middle of this recession and people are making big life decisions, people are feeling stressed out, and also because we’re halfway through the summer and people are really wishing they were outdoors on some adventure.

I’d love to hear people’s comments on why you think this topic has gained such momentum as of late. Comment below!