Happy.

by

My FAVE hold at our wall.

 

Ren Man recently returned from a trip to Scotland (Im not one to be jealous of his travels. I WAS SO JEALOUS OF THIS ONE. He was but a stones-throw from my FAVE SHAUNA!).

I cant lie. Dont tell Ren Man but we were so flipping excited about his leaving/our planned staycation. Methinks more excited than he was about his golf *vacation.* We’d planned our AGENDA—her new fave word—-for months.

The Tornado & I, utterly derailed by sadness at his departure, still took advantage of rolling as single ladies and sadly but industriously mapped out a staycation of our own.

Day one contained many activities (<—–overplanned!! overplanned!!):

Coloring, Shrinky Dinks, park-time, swimming, hanging with her cousins…..and then the Tornado requested to add in climbing.

I almost said no (as with many things in life these days.).

Im so glad I did not.

Id have missed out on an educational facet of our STAYcation I’d not realized was on the agenda.

Climbing—-still—-parallels my life.

 

Youve gotta show up. It was our STAYcation. We’d already been swimming and to the park. When the Tornado announced next on our agenda (she loves that word) would be CLIMBING I almost talked her out of it. The time together was amazing—but I needed to show up to experience it.

Objects in photo are happier than they appear.

It’s just you and me, Babe. The Tornado and I used to have a lot more time together. A LOT more just us days/weeks. I miss that. What I did not realize is that she missed/needed tangible reminding of the fact I am always, always, there to catch her when she falls. Climbing was trust renewing and reinforcing.

Sweaty, single ladies.

It is all about having a good start. In life. In our days. In climbing. If you take that first step believing you cant—then you cannot. Start strong and believing in yourself.

Ready. Set. FLOWER? Climb!

 

It’s about the fun on the journey. Climbing, writing a book, child rearing—LIFE. You may never make it to the top. Hell, you may get mid-way & realize youre laughing too hard to continue (hopefully this one is JUST rock climbing).   Life/climbing is about enjoying, embracing and learning from the process.

HappyClimberGurl.

 

Dont muscle through. I climbed a lot with an ex-boyfriend. Inside. Outside. Top roping. Lead climbing. I was never very good. My downfall was always the fact I DIDN’T READ THE WALL. I tried to muscle & force my way up the climb. Climbing/life becomes far easier when you let go & surrendered to the the wall.

This was my first re-attempt to climb in ages. I’d thought she’d taken a picture until we got home & I found the video. Awkward, muscling-up aside I LOVE her cheers of GO! MAMA! GO! I couldn’t hear them from the wall:


 

Feel the fear and do it anyway. No matter the fear. Your back. Your career. Looking like a fool. It’s FINE TO FEAR—just dont allow it to paralyze you. Fake-it-till-you-make-it (as in me and the photo below) but dont let fear stop you from living.

See the fear in my eyes? (yeah, me too…)

 

 

After eleven years of blogging I could not STOP my mind from racing/mentally writing the above as I drove home from the rock wall.

And yet, as I peeked in the rear-view mirror and spied an exhausted Tornado happily half-zonked, I realized that was it.

There wasnt really a needed blog post in this experience.

YES I was reminded of a lot about life. YES I re-learned a heck of a lot about climbing. Yet all that said I was simply happy.

No caveats. No lessons. No thoughts of: ‘ok if THIS happens then THAT will happen and THEN…”

I was happy.

Climbing, like life, had tired & energized me in the most perfect of ways & caused me to be utterly content and happy.**

 

 

 

 

**which would have made a for a really short, 5 letter blog post…

 

This post is not sponsored by Lifetime Fitness (the place where the Tornado and I HAPPILY climbed).  We’ve previously established, however, our family loves us some Lifetime.

 

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Comments

  4. How do you offer such wisdom in such a short space? In so little words I gain so much from you. To experience happiness, we must first show up and be willing to embrace happiness. We must begin with a good start. We must be present.
    Ahh…such wisdom. So glad you are you and you share your life perspective with us!

  7. That pretty much sums up how I feel about rock climbing, though I couldn’t have articulated it as well. I always just feel HAPPY, CONTENT after a few hours at the climbing gym, in a totally different, deeper way than a regular workout at the gym.

    Also, how awesome is it that you have a small daughter who pulls you to go rock-climbing!?

  10. Hi Carla,

    I’ve been reading your blog for years, but haven’t commented much. I have started a blog of my own, feel like I now have more of an online identity, so I wanted to say “hi”!

    Staycations are the best, aren’t they? Climbing looks like a blast! Glad you and your daughter are enjoying the time together. All of these moments are going to be (if not already) so special to you both–the positive impact you are having is greater than you can imagine! 🙂

    Michelle

  11. Wouldn’t it be great if, inside our own heads, we had that little voice…

    “Go NAME Go! Go NAME Go!”

    …instead of all the self doubt and questions that we all suffer?

    You need to offer a service where you record the Tornado chanting that phrase with our name, customized, on an .mp3 file that we can download on a loop for our iPods.

    You’d make a million.

  12. I love that you were happy and just enjoying the day. There doesn’t always need to be a blog post in an experience….but this was a great one to share!

  13. I love Tornado’s encouragement! I should put rock climbing on our staycation-empty next AGENDA. You make it look so easy, but I’m sure it’s really hard. And I really want to get half way to anywhere and half to quit because I’m laughing so hard.

  14. I had a really rough time balancing out our agenda this summer, with work and whatnot. I think I missed the boat on it to be honest. But maybe I can squeeze in a few good things in the last minutes here.

    Nice climb!

  21. During my kickboxing classes we have a fighter/coach section where the fighter will fight the bag as hard and fast as they can for 30 seconds and the coach cheers them on. I’m told I’m a great coach for my partners, but I would love to have the Tornado there to cheer us all on! 🙂

  23. I am not sure what to write – I LOVED THE VIDEO & hearing Tornado cheer you on – her little song & you can do it! She had to have learned that from some special person – teach by example! 🙂 I wish I had more of that when I was young. I learned to be paralyzed at a young age. I have tried many things thru life that pushed me, maybe not others, but me.. yet somehow I still have lessons to learn always – yup – life. I remain paralyzed by some things yet not others.. a really heart warming post Carla!

  26. Sweet. Love that you said yes – I find such freedom in that word, especially when you allow something in that wasn’t on schedule…er, the AGENDA. (love it also when kids attach to a certain word – so cute)

  29. Sometimes I say ‘no’ too quickly when my kids suggest activities outside our ‘normal’ ones.
    Thanks for the reminder to stop, think and say ‘yes’!
    P.S. rock climbing is on my fitness bucket list, shall I give it a go?

  33. Fake rock climber…
    Dear Miz or ‘Nado, will you read my note?
    Or completely ignore it, like other ones I wrote?
    I watched your vid about a goat named Miz
    And it made me smile, so I want to be a fake rock climber,
    Fake rock climber!

  34. I want to try climbing SO bad! And what a great thing to do with your daughter. So many lessons learned during that adventure! 🙂

  36. Yay for staycation and what a wonderful time (although I am also extremely jealous of a trip to Scotland!!!!).

    I did rock climbing once. It was scary and thrilling at the same time – and my poor forearms were sore for a while LOL>

  37. Precious Time! Your Tornado is adorable!

    You blog, you encourage “Feel the fear and do it anyway” -yes.thank you.

  39. He was near SHAUNA?!?! Now I’m jealous. 🙂
    The part where you say to feel the fear and do it anyway. That is right where my blog always seems to put me, lol. In a good, growing, stepping out of my comfort zone way.

  42. This is so wonderful! Yup, just keep on goin’ no matter what else is going on and it will all be worth it.
    Love the contrast of the activity and the sweetness found here too.

  43. That’s really nice, Carla!!

    I took a rock climbing class. They told me I had the perfect build to do it! Now all I need is to find some rocks to climb in ?? Florida, lol! The locals go to Tennessee for that 🙂

  45. I love (indoor, safe, main event-type) rock climbing! We go a few times a year. Two things I noticed: 1. What a fun workout that kicks your butt. 2. How sad is it that most parents are just sitting there watching their kids climb (or just surfing on their iphones while their kids climb). You rock for being a mama who gets out there too (I mean seriously, how can you let the kids have all the fun?)!

  46. You know, I’ve never been rock climbing – ever. It would be a fantastic challenge. I know of one 40 minutes away – perhaps the Tucker boy and I need to make a visit!!! I love your Staycation week.

  49. I LOVE the fact that she stood down there and videoed your climb and CHEERED you on the whole way!! You have a great way of relating to her!

  50. I LOVELOVELOVE ROCK CLIMBING. there is a really cool rock climbing gym here but its so friggin expensive.. i treat myself occasionally though 😉

  53. I absolutely adore hearing the Tornado cheer for you in the background and that you only have like 5 steps to go and then you’re at the top. Love this post in so many ways that I don’t even know where to start with this comment so I’ll just leave it at – this made me happy.

  56. You have the coolest cheerleader. Glad that you gave in and went climbing…

    Yeah, I’ve tried to muscle my way up routes (barely using my legs) and it hardly ever works.

  57. Miz, I love the mother-daughter time. What treasured moments Tornado will have of her childhood.

    As for you, I suspect surrendering control (albeit to the wall) must have been difficult. I’m a bit of a control freak so would always assume ‘I’ knew best!

    PS. Haven’t ever tried climbing as I’m not sure I could hold my (hefty) body weight!

    Deb

  61. Hmmm… I’m sure it’s not how you planned it, but reading about your Snacking Slip and then reading about Climbing the Wall is really hitting home for me today as I sit pondering recent choices.

    On a not so deep, introspective level, Dave and I have talked several times about taking the kids to a rock wall, and we’ve never done it. We really need to get that done.

    Yet another fear to conquer.

  62. What a fun day! You had me at shrinky dinks, I used to love those so much as a girl! This was a great post. Also, I can’t believe you’ve been blogging 11 years. Was there anyone to talk to back then?

  63. You give so much heart and wisdom in every post. Reading the wall, facing the fear, enjoying the journey. Thank you so so much for sharing your HAPPY with us!

  67. That video warmed my heart. Tornado is so freakin’ sweet. What an amazing thing! Being content and happy in the moment is something I’m always working on…and thankfully…getting better at every day. Posts like this make it easier. Cheers to life, girlfriend!

  70. What a fantastic “almost qualifies to be a” post 🙂 Just like @fitknitchick, I also tend to say no too quickly and have been trying hard to say YES more often. We have not tried rock climbing yet but hope to this winter. One of my favorite memories of personal achievement is while I was at a rock climbing wall and I managed to pull myself up over a lip that jutted out. This was a MAJOR accomplishment for me because (at the time) I was sporting pretty weak chicken arms 😉 I can’t wait to take my kids and kick some rock wall butt!

  72. “Objects in photo are happier than they appear.” haha. I love how you have your very own videographer and cheering squad. Nice. Future blogger/you tuber. 😉

    And nice job climbing the wall.

    Great times. BTW, my daughter wants me to climb the wall, too. I am scared. But this lends as inspiration. TY for that!

  73. So much I love about this post: a) Shrinky Dinks. I seriously want to go out and buy my kids a kit rightthisverysecond – I don’t think they’ve ever? b) best caption ever: “Objects in this pic are happier than they appear” and c) ROCK CLIMBING! I went through a major rock climbing phase in college and they are some of the best memories I have. I too was an over-muscler under-thinker. Perhaps that is why I remain decidely mediocre at it? Either way though: soooo fun:)

Trackbacks

  1. […] Happy To end off the week, I have to go back to Miz over at MizFitOnline. Miz always seems to tap into exactly what I’m feeling or what I need to hear and this post was no different. She talks about the many parallels between climbing and life and how both leave her energized and simply happy. […]

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