serious climbing!

just came back from a day trip to jtree. awesome.

Jeff, Taryn and myself hit the ground running by jumping on Continuum (5.8), and then went over to Taxman (10a) and finished the day with left Mel's crack (10c). I was able to lead continuum fine, hung on Taxman like sloth from a jungle tree branch and just watched taryn and jeff TR mel's crack.

All in all, I feel destroyed - just the way I love to feel when I come back from a climbing trip.

I think that despite not being able to lead taxman clean, it was a great experience. I had to wrestle with my fears on taxman (falling, failure, etc) and lost, but the internal struggle gave me a sense of personal insight which I LOVE. I love opportunities to grow as a person, and challenges / struggles forces a person to grow one way or another.

What's truly fascinating is the mental struggle that manifested itself physically. I literally could not grip the holds as best as I could or place my feet as carefully as I should have. I couldn't run out the sections that I should have (and thus conserved my energy for the truly difficult sections). Fear is such a powerful mental force... I'm excited by the prospect of tackling such a large and seemingly overwhelming aspect of my personality. I have resolved to start meditations again - at least 3 times each week (I'd like each work day, but I'm setting realistic goals here...).

and now another tangent: will the climbing reflect the meditation practice or will the meditation practice reflect the chnages in my climbing?

in any case wishme luck!