So on Tuesday night I found myself clinging on to what looked like an purple soap dish that had been cemented into a wall about 4 metres above the ground. My whole body ached and despite feeling pretty healthy of late, at that moment I was all too aware that I was carrying extra weight. I was climbing (or at that precise time bouldering)-it was what I had deemed an excellent idea for a date night…

Why?

Well mainly because on a previous date night we had an argument and I had said through my ugly tears ‘and this is why we should do an activity on our date night and not just sit and chat’.

So it was my turn to organise a date and it had to begin with the letter ‘c’ (I was inspired by our friends Robyn and Sarah who did alphabet dates last year). So climbing it was. Mike wasn’t too keen (probably didn’t help that I used his credit card to book it)-he isn’t keen on trying things out that he’s not sure he will be good at. It will be of no surprise to hear that he was pretty good at it.

As we were being shown around and there were all these incredible climbers half way up walls, hanging upside down and moving so smoothly across walls that I thought maybe there was something in the chalk. I regretted not hiring climbing shoes as I looked down at my old chunky trainers covered in rips-which now just looked like massive threats to my future life.

I felt fear rise up in me…maybe I am not going to be able to do this and people will see.

I will fall, roll my ankle (I had just heard this mentioned as a possible risk) and then I will cry, ugly tears and wailing like an animal and people will look at me with concern and confusion. I realised I was sweating, and I hadn’t even started climbing yet! Great another thing I will be known for as they take me out on a stretcher…my sweaty pits!

Great.

But too proud that I would make this work I gave it a go, and although I ache still now 3 days later and despite not being a natural climber-it was good.

It was good to do something outside of my comfort zone.

I need to do more of this-not necessarily climbing but the things I have said I shouldn’t try/I probably couldn’t do/its not really meant for me to myself-those walls need breaking down. Some of which I erected myself, others which i felt society sneakily whisper into my subconscious.

I have come to realise the boundaries I put around myself of what I was capable of are pretty narrow. I am not doing this to find my secret skill-although it would be awesome to find out I was a natural acrobat/racing car driver/giraffe whisperer (the first 3 that came to mind). I am doing this to live life a bit more fully-and to stop limiting myself.

So here’s to the ‘E’ date….