Taking Risks

(photo of climbers gathered around Columbia boulder)

Camp 4 is where the rock climbers hang out, and when I’m in Yosemite I stay with them. I like their camaraderie and the stories they share around the evening campfires of adventures from the day.

On days when they’re not climbing the big walls, they often gather at the 30-foot-tall Columbia boulder in camp and challenge each other to make it up the overhanging “Midnight Lightning” route. Almost all of them will lose their grip at some point and peel off the rock, with friends catching them below.

Climbers know their big wall climbs are dangerous. Sometimes they will miss a hold, or the rock will disintegrate in their hands, and they fall, with safety ropes catching them forty or fifty feet down. Generally the only injuries are bruises and cuts.

But sometimes ropes snap, or climbers hit points of rock when they fall and bones break. Sometimes climbers die from pushing themselves or their equipment too far. Yet taking this risk with others, and pushing to the edge that separates failure and success, teaches them about courage, teamwork, and most importantly, about their inner strengths. By challenging death, they discover what it means to be alive.

Taking risks brings excitement into the day and ushers me to the place where I am open to insights. I would guess that most changes in the world happen because of people taking risks, when they see a need and try to help without knowing what to do. Improvising on the spot, they discover hidden abilities and solutions.

I can get through life comfortably doing what I’ve always done. But I grow only when I take a risk and try something that I don’t know if I can do.