When I was little, my mom noticed that I had a whole lot of energy and I loved to climb things. “Caleb, get down from the window bars!” “Caleb, get down from the shelves!” So, climbing + energy = “Caleb, we are going to a rock climbing gym.” I had no idea what I was doing so I didn’t try to find the biggest wall in the place to start climbing. Instead, I started slow on easier walls and worked until I could climb more challenging ones. 

When I set a goal in rock climbing I am compelled to reach it because it is exceptionally fun, it is good exercise, and it is incredibly challenging. After I reach a goal I feel completely exhausted and content with myself. 

One thing I have learned while rock climbing is that sometimes I need to rest even if I don’t feel tired because while my brain might not feel tired, my muscles are. Resting between attempts gives me a chance to look at the problem differently - are there better grips to hold, how should I adjust my body position, do I need to change how low I am keeping my center of gravity? When I rest I can think smarter, not harder. 

A second thing I have learned is that perfect practice makes perfect. If you learn how to do something and you do it wrong, then you will never learn how to do it right. For example, one Monday night there was a route in the middle of a wall that I really wanted to try. On my first try I fell to the ground halfway up the wall. On my second try I made it a bit further. This went on for about 15 minutes after which I finally got it! After multiple attempts, most of them failures, I completed the route. There were other routes that took me not just one night, or even a week, but several weeks. Either way, in all of these examples I had to practice the moves multiple times in order to get it right.