"--and always higher and higher till the sense of height would have terrified you if you could be terrified, but here it was only gloriously exciting."--C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle
"You went on, up and up, with all kinds of reflected lights flashing at you from the water and all manner of coloured stones flashing through it, till it seemed as if you were climbing up light itself"--and always higher and higher till the sense of height would have terrified you if you could be terrified, but here it was only gloriously exciting."
Gloriously exciting. That is what climbing is like for me. A while back I had the opportunity to take a very timid, fearful, 9 year old child out on four wheelers and down Yankee Doodle. The child was terrified of going any faster than 15 mph, of rapelling, and even down climbing. While cajoling him into enjoying the events of the day, I had a thought. "What is it that makes this child so afraid?" He was with very experienced people, operating well within their abilities. There was no opportunity for him to become injured. His fear was a state of mind. From my outside perspective, his fear was irrational. To him, his fear was petrifying. I learned an important lesson that day: the difference between feeling afraid, and feeling excited, is a choice. As I have researched the issue, I have learned that it does not matter whether a person is afraid or excited. The human body responds the same to either scenario, and secretes the same chemicals/horomones.
I therefore choose to be gloriously excited in all my endeavors.
4 miles up a slot canyon before work.
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