The Crux of the Problem
By Shawn Sturges
In the most recent years since rock climbing has entered my life, more times than not I find a strong correlation between everyday life and my time at the climbing gym, or at the crag. I really saw it during this past winter more or less because this time of year is when most of us go into a sort of hibernation since the cold weather drives us to stay inside. I must admit that this winter season was probably the laziest winter of my life due to some schooling that I have been taking part of since October of 2017. Although this is no excuse to slack off in continued pursuit of my goals, I just recently realized how much this truly relates to climbing which I will explain. 
In climbing we state that the most difficult part of the climb is called the crux. Most of the time the crux can be simply overcome by unlocking a certain movement pattern to smoothly pass through the difficult portion of the climb, but other times it may take more time training in the weight room, increasing flexibility, or simply changing the mindset due to an uncertain feeling or fear of falling at the crux. Everyone that faces this point in the climb has to overcome it in their own way.
I simply bring this up because my most recent crux was not in climbing, but rather moving through a short time of laziness to climb at the gym as frequently as I had been doing prior to my schooling and the start of winter. One day, after taking months off from climbing, I just felt sluggish and my body was feeling old; more or less due to the lack of my general fitness level that climbing has brought me on a regular basis.
Over the past month I have really hit the climbing gym hard again, and I must say it has been rough to get back into the swing of things, but I am already feeling revitalized since finding that upward mobility I love so much when on the wall. The only way I was able to move through my crux was to analyze what my body was lacking, and what it needed to feel better. The first couple of sessions were hard to be motivated to go to the gym, but it just took me going through the motions to find my drive again.
What this has allowed me to recognize is that we all face times of laziness and lack of desire to keep ourselves on the path of success, but we must find some small spark of desire to keep up with what we love in this life.
Sometimes just going through the motions in those lazy moments is all we need to keep the spark alive with some small bit of motivation. This time can be spent reading articles, watching others pursue similar goals, listening to podcasts, or just finding other mediums to continue learning how to better yourself to find success in that goal you have.
Although I was not climbing that regularly, I still kept up with the climbing world because I knew it would not be long until I returned to the sport I loved. This time off was a way that I could allow my body to rest and recover since I was pushing myself a tremendous amount prior to my five-month break. I also used that time off to help me figure out ways I can get into public speaking which is a topic for another time.
All I want to impart on all of you taking the time to read this is to never give up, because eventually you will be able to overcome the crux that is in the way. The most important thing that can be done is to be patient, analyze what can be done to overcome the crux, and never give up on the spark of desire that might temporarily be dimmed but with a little tender love, that spark will turn into a raging fire full of desire once again.
