I know I already shared some vacation highlights but I thought it would be fun to share one of the activities I did while on the boat. I debated on doing this. I watched others do it first. Some completed the task and some did not. With a little encouragement from my friend Heather, I decided I would give it a try.
On the first day of the cruise I watched a brother and sister climb the rock wall. The brother didn't even make it half way up before he threw in the towel and said he was done. The sister had a little more determination and made it all the way to the top. Of course the brother could not be upstaged by his sister, so he tried again and made it to the top. I debated for the next few days on doing this before I made the commitment on the third day.
After putting on the special climbing shoes, the helmet, and getting harnessed in, I put a little chalk on my hands and was ready to go. I said that I did not intend to make it all the way to the top because lets face it, I have short arms!
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| Assessing my goal and deciding if I really wanted to do this. |
There were two bells on the rock wall. One was half way up and the other was at the very top. My only goal was to ring the bell half way up. I had no intentions of going all the way to the top.
I had met my goal to ring the first bell. I was going to stop there but my friend and the climbing instructor kept telling me how good I was doing and encouraged me to keep going. I climbed a little further.
I noticed that the higher I climbed, the further away the pegs became. Some were very hard to hold on to and stand on. At one point I was only hanging on with one hand while I searched the wall for other pegs to place my feet and other hand. That really proved to me that I had more upper body strength than I thought. I was almost to the top and then I told the instructor that I was done and wanted to come down. Again I was encouraged to go just a little further because I was almost there.
I surprised the bejeezus out of myself and I made it to the very top and rang the top bell!
I was then released to come down. I watched other do this before me and it actually looked more fun than it actually was. I guess I didn't lean back far enough to really repel down fast and fun. Instead, I was being lowered like a bucket gets lowered into a well.
But I did it! I know it may not be a big deal for some people but it was kind of a big deal for me. I was fearful but I did it anyway! The rock wall was located on the very back of the ship overlooking the water. I made sure to climb it when the ship was in port and not moving. I kept looking back to see how high I was over the water!
Have you ever done anything out of your comfort zone while on vacation? -M
