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iamthewallress
Jan 14, 2004, 10:46 PM
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I'm talking about the Indigo Girl's Song...The one where the singer tells of all that she's done to become the person that she wants to be, but comes the closest when she's not really trying at all. ("The less I seek my source the closer I am to fine.")
Last summer/fall I was having all kinds of yucky confidence issues. I'd back off of half of the stuff I'd start, freak out on TR, and come home feeling like a looser. I started reading the WW, and really trying to work on getting analytical instead of emotional, dissociating my ego from it, etc. It was helping some.
Then in December it rained almost every single weekend, and I didn't get to climb much outside the gym. I did work out pretty hard over the month though...regularly going to a sit-ups class (something I started in the fall to help w/ the wide cracks), upping my pull-down strength a little, and loosing a little weight. But since I wasn't getting on the rocks, the WW went back on the shelf, and I sort of quit thinking about it much.
Over New Years I spent 4 days climbing with a total stranger at Josh, the first timed I'd been there in a year. Usually the unfamiliar partner and location would make me pretty nervous. I was no super hero of bravery and didn't step too far beyond what I'd previously climbed in Joshua Tree, but for the most part (relative to myself) I was pretty collected. I even led a couple wide cracks (one that had stopped me previously on TR!) without freaking out. Then, last weekend in Yosemite, I had one of my best (head and body wise) weekends of climbing that I've had all year.
Paradoxically, I feel like I can attribute this change largely towards being LESS focused on my mental development rather than more...like there was less pressure, or less ego, or just simply more unconscious flow that was happening. All of these things are what the WW wants to bring about. Now that I'm having a time where it's clicking for me, I don't want to loose it by trying to bring the WW ideas up with me in a "conscious" way that disturbs that "flow" that I was finally enjoying. But, I don't want to loose it by going back to my old bad habits either.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
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fracture
Jan 14, 2004, 11:09 PM
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Remember that the ultimate goal with WW stuff is impeccability. You want to focus 100% on the climbing, and nothing else, and this is probably what you were doing by not worying about your mental game.
You don't want to be standing at the base of the route afraid of whether you are going to be afraid. That's not the point, and it's just as bad as standing at the base of the route thinking "I wonder if I have enough endurance for this"---i.e. it counts as negative self-talk; if you notice yourself doing it, counteract the self-talk with rational thinking (if I become afraid, I'll assess the risk honestly at that point, and then focus on the climbing if I choose to take the risk, or if I don't have enough endurance I'll fall; no big deal).
So instead, once you find yourself "freaking out", observe your self-talk, assess fall-consequences honestly and decide if the risk is really ok, etc. This process alone should be a step toward turning off the fear so you can focus on the climb. But if you're way outside your comfort zone, there is going to be some fear, no matter how much you deal with it, so the other thing to realize is that if you can't calm down at that particular moment, at least you can expand your comfort zone for the future.
The other point to make is that you should think of this as working on your mental technique. If you go out climbing with the intention of working on a specific technique (for example, dynoing, slopers, footwork, or whatever), part of your attention is going to be spent on rationalizing how to do the technique and such (thinking about arcs for dynos, trying to stay below the hold for slopers, etc). You probably don't have a bunch of engrams about the technique yet (or worse, you might have bad ones you want to override), so you can't do things "naturally". As a result, you will seem to climb "worse". It's really the same thing as if you are actively working on your mental game.
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dirtineye
Jan 15, 2004, 2:21 AM
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Wallress,
Maybe you have internalized some ww principles and instead of thinking about them, you were living them that day.
I wouldn't worry about more reading or thinking messing things up, I'd be glad for that day and just relax and let it happen again. You must be doing something right.
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arnoilgner
Jan 15, 2004, 3:53 AM
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Interesting points you make. That indirect path...
Remember one thing though. What is the goal? According to ww, the goal isn't to have your climbing flowing. The goal is to learn more about yourself and your abilities so you can increase your personal power. We do not arrive at some destination, like our climbing flowing. We stay on the journey of learning.
Learning usually involves intense conscious effort followed by things flowing effortlessly. The path to mastery goes like this: unconsciously incompetent, consciously incompetent, consciously competent, and finally unconsciously competent. In other words, first you must become aware of what is limiting you. Next you practice like hell. And lastly it flows on its own, without thinking.
Perhaps this helps.
arno
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iamthewallress
Jan 15, 2004, 7:35 PM
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In reply to: The path to mastery goes like this: unconsciously incompetent, consciously incompetent, consciously competent, and finally unconsciously competent. In other words, first you must become aware of what is limiting you. Next you practice like hell. And lastly it flows on its own, without thinking. Perhaps this helps.
Yes, very much. Thank you.
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unabonger
Jan 29, 2004, 8:45 PM
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In reply to: The path to mastery goes like this: unconsciously incompetent, consciously incompetent, consciously competent, and finally unconsciously competent. In other words, first you must become aware of what is limiting you. Next you practice like hell. And lastly it flows on its own, without thinking.
A process I learned about by bouldering. Early in my climbing, I read or heard John Gill talk about bouldering and how he strived to do a problem better each time. Emulating that I discovered the beauty of this process as I became smooth on problems I couldn't climb in the past.
UB
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