Just left the Red River Gorge. Midway through two months leave of absence from work. The past month went by so heart-breakingly fast. After being chained to my desk 50+ hours a week for the past year, I am PSYCHED to be outside and rock climbing. If desk jobs aren’t great for training, they’re at least good for motivation on trips. Several times when there were ten people in line for my warmup, or the weather straight sucked, or my skin was shredded to the point of excruciating pain, I gleefully reminded myself “It’s TUESDAY—and I’m outside!”

The past three years have been a struggle with my career—torn between work that I’m utterly passionate about (energy efficiency and renewable energy consulting) and taking my mid-twenties to play and push myself rock climbing. The past summer was particularly rough—where I worked almost every day for several months and felt lucky if I climbed more than an hour a week. This two month trip is an attempt to salvage my sanity, but I had zero expectations for my climbing.

And yet, I’m climbing better than ever. No redpoints pushing the grades this year, but it feels so good to focus on climbing and try really hard that I bumped up my onsight grade at the beginning of the month—and then again at the end of the month. In the way that you need the bad times to appreciate the good times, perhaps having a demanding career helps me enjoy my time rock climbing more? I may not be my fittest, but each moment at the crag feels so valuable that perhaps I balance it out with psych and try-hard?

Perhaps. We’ll see if I continue this idealistic, zen-like mentality when it’s Monday morning and I’m back in the office...