Tips
The Fear
of
Photo: ‘Climbing’ by l@mie
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Is there an answer to overcoming
the fear of falling?
We’ve all been there. You’re at
the crux, you know you are capable of
the next move, yet you still can’t quite
commit. You try to distract yourself
with some nervous chalking and
remind yourself everything is perfectly
safe, but something in your head just
tells you it feels wrong. In the end,
you return to the ground shaken and
frustrated, knowing you could have
pushed yourself further. A fear of
falling is more common in climbers
than you might think, and is a tough
obstacle to overcome.
So is there a secret for getting
over the fear of falling? The truth:
no – at least, not exactly. This is
because people are going about it all
wrong. You need to understand there
is nothing wrong with being scared
of falling, or being afraid of heights.
It’s a perfectly natural human instinct.
The truth is - for most people - a fear
of falling in climbing isn’t about the
actual falling. It’s more a fear of breaking out of your comfort zone. Sure,
you could carry on happily zipping up
tope ropes, on a faithful 5+ grade - and
some people are fine with that - but
why should you? Everyone needs to
push their boundaries now and then,
Photo (below): by Phil Sawyer
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