Wednesday, December 29, 2010

December 27: Ordinary Joy

I'm participating in #reverb10, a month-long challenge to blog every day of December based on prompts provided here.

Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year? (Author: Brené Brown)


I’ve been eying the climbing wall at my gym since I joined this summer. When I was in college, I got into climbing for a bit and invested in my own shoes, harness, chalk bag and belay device. A few months ago, I brought all my equipment from my parents’ house with the intention of getting back into climbing. But it all just sat in my closet for awhile.

I don’t know what was holding me back. I wasn’t scared or nervous. Maybe I just didn’t feel like adding yet another physical activity to my life, which already includes biking, swimming, yoga and sometimes running. But I finally decided gather up my equipment and head to the wall about a month ago.

I surprised myself by how easily I remembered all the knots. And although I hadn’t climbed in a few years, I figured I would do okay since all my yogaing and swimming might have done something for my upper body strength and endurance. Wrong, apparently.

I climbed a little bit up the wall, and then I got to this 90-degree jutty outy ledge and absolutely didn’t have the strength to pull myself over it. Then I tried again the next week. And I still wasn’t strong enough. It wasn’t until my third or fourth week that I was able to pull myself up to get my feet and hands in the right position and get over the ledge.

Maybe I didn’t feel pure and ordinary what-does-this-even-mean joy. But I felt accomplishment. I couldn't do this one thing. I kept trying. And then I could do it. Neat.

Also, I realized during my swim earlier this week that I could breathe every four strokes instead of every two strokes for a longer time and wasn't totally out of breath. That isn't as exciting though because that is quite possibly one of the dumbest accomplishments ever.

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