walking away from a project
Happy Friday! I'm writing to you from northern Virginia. I came back home for the weekend to celebrate my mom and grandma's birthdays. I'm excited both to see family and also to force myself to take a bit of a rest before I get into the full swing of training (but more on this next week!). I hope you have fun plans for your weekend!
Today I wanted to talk about when it's time to walk away from a project, because I did exactly that last weekend. A quick summary: this spring I took to sport climbing in the southeast. I spent about a month building a foundation to refamiliarize myself with the tactics and gain fitness. Once I hit my volume goals, I picked a project.
I chose a climb called Abandon, a 5.13c in the Concave at Little River Canyon in Alabama. It's short, steep, and VERY powerful. I chose it because I had done a number of other climbs in the Concave and felt prepared to try something a bit harder at the same crag. I sussed out the moves in the first session, and I knew it would be a challenge. But a challenge I wanted to try.
For the first 3 sessions, I made steady progress. Dialing in the moves, refining beta, and making links. I tried my best to balance feeling optimistic while also know it would still be a fight. At the end of the 3rd session, I hit a high point and was consistently one-hanging the route. That's when I knew it could go.
However, the next time I went back I had an off day. Things weren't clicking and I regressed. I knew time was of the essence as hotter temps were fast approaching, and my optimism dwindled. My mindset shifted: my confidence felt like it took a hit and I had to confront the idea of failure.
So last weekend I went back to the project with the decision that it would be my last session on it, whether I sent or not (spoiler: I did not). I made this decision for a couple of reasons but ultimately it came down to psyche.
One of, if not THE, most important thing when projecting is psyche. If you're not psyched, not much else matters. Your project should inspire and excite you because projects take time and can be frustrating. You need mental energy to be able to push through the roller coaster of the process.
Here are three signs it's time to move on (or at least take a break):
- Going to your project feels like a chore: you're dragging your feet to show up session after session and trying your project feels more like something you "should" do rather than want to do.
-Your main motivation for sending is so that you don't have to go back (rather than having it be something you're really proud of or feel fulfilled by)
- Your day ends up worse off after trying your project: climbing is supposed to still be fun and bring joy to your life. Your project shouldn't be taking that joy away.
So I walked away without a send and it's a decision I feel good about. I'll be back for it eventually, but for now my psyche is pulling me towards training for my Colorado trip.
Have you ever walked away from a project? What lessons did you learn from taking a break?
