Indoor rock climbing to overcome fears

Hear me out: indoor rock climbing — specifically top-roping, NOT BOULDERING — is perfect for anyone who’s always fearful of things one logically knows they shouldn’t fear (doing that scary/new thing, taking the professional/life leap, saying what’s on your mind).

The first few times you try it, it’ll make you feel off-kilter — or if you’re like me and afraid of heights, cry — but the more I tried it, i began to realize that inching up the wall was akin to a physical manifestation of overcoming my fears. A route you previously couldn’t complete (because, well, fear duh) will feel so good once you get just a tiny bit higher on it.

Top-rope is also the safest way to climb, because someone’s ALWAYS got you on the bottom, so if you attempt something and fall, it’s totally fine, you’ll just be hanging on the wall. Also, if you get scared and tired, you can just hang out on the rope and contemplate the holds and think about what’s next. Breathe. Assess. And then try again. And if you don’t finish it, who cares? It’s just indoor rock climbing.

It made me realize that so much of all my fears was just my brain saying “you can’t. don’t. what if” and so little of that is actually true.