ROCK IT BY ALEX WESKER

Passionate Climber and life go-getter Alex Wesker

Climbing: exciting to some, daunting to some. The difference is whether you see it as a threat or a challenge. 

I’m on a wall, trying to get my finger tips on the edges of tiny, crimpy holds. I retort to pushing both my thumbs up against a downward ledge whispering to myself four-letter words, while my body tenses: “F***, f***, f***…”

Negative thoughts on a wall are new to me and I wonder why that door has suddenly opened. I realise that the reason I can afford myself this moment of self-pity is due to stable feet on to somewhat comfortable footholds down below me. If I was in actual trouble, there would be no time to feel this way. In other words: look for opportunity. “Give me thirty seconds”, I yell to my partner down below, and I gather my breath.

What’s the status. I’m about 3 feet above the highest anchor point. If I were to fall, it would be unlikely to be more than 2.5 metres, because I know my partner is watching me with little slack in the rope. I wear a helmet and the space below me does not contain any ledges I can get hurt on. Ok, I’m relatively safe. Can I hold with just one thumb pushed up into that ledge. Yes. It means I can use my other hand to feel and search for other holds. No holds. Other thumb, other hand. No hold. “F***”. 

Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, you know you enjoy the challenge. Others have done this, ask yourself what it is they have seen. View this through them. Change your footing. Pull the knee in instead of out, requiring the range in your hip you have practiced in your Pilates class. Hell, there is a push to the side, and if I place my hand there, then I have a side-pull I did not see before, but it allows me to put my other hand just that little higher onto the crimpy hold, and… 

Whether it is climbing or life, all the time, effort, and endurance you have put in until this point, pays off if you decide to push while in the security of being caught and not die. You may face unexpected situations, and fear others could define you for something you don’t want to be judged for. If you decide to leave the challenge and be lowered down because you give in to your own inner critic, then not a month goes by without questioning the decision you made in a moment of unsettlement. It means the voice in your head that is opposed to you got the best of you. You may be fighting for your right to live. And if you breathe, just one moment, you realise the person stopping you from living, is nobody but yourself. 

You are unlikely to be reading this on Felicity’s website if you don’t feel you could be more than you are currently believing to be. An element of you is looking to develop yourself, gain ability through strength and flexibility in the right areas. If you justify your judgement solely by your feelings, you may lose sight of what is presenting itself candidly in front of you. There is a hold, right there, but you don’t see it if you vision narrows in response to fear. Similarly, a pure analyst may see the holds, but lacks the passion to do something with them. There is a balance, and a time and place for all of it. 

To quote Al Pacino in ‘Any Given Sunday’ when speaking to a team: “And we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us. Or, we can fight our way back, into the light. We can climb out of hell. One inch at a time.” That inch, might fulfil your project. That inch, might save your life. The reason you are in the place you are is that you have been competent up until that point to reach it. It may be new to you, but it is unlikely you are somewhere where nobody has been before. Before you go there, look for others who might know a way. Partner up, and if instead of addressing the fears you speak of the problems you are facing to others in the same field, then they may be able to offer useful suggestions. Your trusted partner may be your guide, or at least support you if you fall. 

Back to Al Pacino: “You’ve got to look at that guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you’re going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You are going to see a guy, who will sacrifice themselves for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you’re going to do the same for him., That’s a team, gentlemen.” That indicates a partner who is wanting to achieve the objective of the project with you. Find the right partner for the project, and if the project is in line with who you want to be then you will be one well established person. Let others be, who are striving for a victory outside of your direction. You would be fighting for a cause dispassionate to you. Know what you stand for before you move, as it will make you strong in the pursuit of consequence. Do not go quietly, know who you will be in a fight.

In the unlikely event you are going somewhere nobody has ever gone before, there will be others who understand your situation and have experience in similar fields. If you are that one in a million, who looks to invent a new wheel, then surround yourself with others who have studied the current wheel, who know the dimensions, workings, functionality and limitations of it. Then, when you know the current, look to invent the new. If you see opportunity, then do it provided you have the right backup. 

If you have the opportunity, then grab it, because not everybody might be able to. If you have the opportunity, then align your values with your allies to find your way, that novel way. If you have the opportunity, then do it. Because we need you. If all of us would do what is within our ability, and put in place the systems that give us the security to act, then imagine the place this world would be.