Sometimes, To Plateau Is to Progress

My rock climbing journey began two-and-a-half years ago. I would climb three to four times a week for three hours each session. My strength, stamina, and technique increased drastically over a very short period of time.

I then began climbing with people who were better than me. They taught me new techniques and I improved even more. My summers were spent in a bouldering gym, forced to 1) master my fear of falling without a rope, and 2) learn how to fully commit to dynamic moves. The improvements were incredibly obvious. I was on fire.

But then, my life changed. I got into a relationship, became a senior in college, and accepted an incredibly demanding position in a student organization. Three-hour gym sessions were no longer possible.

I appreciated everything that came into my life, but I began to notice that my climbing was plateauing. Instead of visiting the gym ever other day, I’d go once or twice a week…if that. And I’d only stay for an hour or two. My body was tired, my mind was fried, and I was still having to battle a fear of falling that I had developed after my ankle injury the previous Spring. I didn’t have the mental or physical strength needed to improve.

So I plateaued.

I didn’t improve for a long time.

And amazingly, I was okay with it. Unlike every other time that I had stopped improving at something, I saw my climbing plateau as better than quitting altogether.

Some days, the brief thought of do you really want to go to the gym today? would enter my mind. I’d remind myself of how climbing saved me from going crazy during the height of COVID-19, and I’d suck it up and go to the gym knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to climb the V3s and 5.11-s that I had been able to climb only a few short months prior.

And that was my climbing life for the nine months that I was a senior. Only now do I realize how much I needed that plateau.

I had so much time to think about where I needed to improve my climbing. I learned that I didn’t need to spend three hours at the gym in order for it to feel productive. I learned that - contrary to prior belief - I was able to be consistent (if I wanted to be). And I learned that climbing wasn’t going to leave me unless I consciously chose to leave it - the biggest revelation that my plateau caused.

And now? I’m back to improving. I’m projecting V5s, I’ve climbed my first V6, I’m lead certified, and I’m beginning to think towards the goal that I made for myself two years ago: to climb the face of Half Dome before I turn 26.

Plateaus are hard and can be absolutely soul-crushing, but, sometimes, they are necessary for the rest of you to grow and make room for that plateau to begin sloping upwards again.