...there was never any question that I would get back up again and finish it off.

 

Two days ago we were climbing at some crags in South Wales - Wyndcliffe in the Wye valley, if you know the area.  We'd done a couple of routes to warm up and I was heading up an easy route to show the line to a novice we had with us.

 

 

...I found myself spinning through the air.  Unfathomably, my foot slipped while I was pulling up on a nice big hold, twisting me off the rock into free-fall, plunging towards the earth.

 

I wondered how far I would fall before the slack in the rope got taken up.  And then - bam - it caught me, spinning me back round again and banging my head into the rock face (I wasn't aware of it at the time - only later when I saw the blood and started to feel the bruising).  Luckily I was wearing a helmet :-)

 

In a flash, I was back on the rock pulling myself back up and finishing off the route.

 

 

...what resilience is all about.  Taking the knocks and just getting back on with it, finishing off the job.  What cyclists refer to as 'getting back on the bike'.

 

And it's so important!

 

What happens if you don't do it straight away?

 

Is that any way to live your life?  Hell no!

 

I do a lot of work with young people, and one of the biggest hurdles they have to overcome is their own limiting beliefs.  They obsess about what they can't do.

 

The novice who followed me up the other night was saying, "I can't do this."

 

I told her, "You can, I know you can.  Just do it, just go for the move."

 

"I can't..."

 

"You can.  Just get on with it."

 

"I can't..."

 

"Yes you can.  Just do it.  Stop all this negative self-talk."

 

Eventually she got the move, and as she did so she was saying, "I can't do this."

 

"You're doing it!  What are you going on about?  What's all this 'I can't do it' rubbish?"

 

Mind you, she was a bit spooked after watching the fall I'd just taken!  But, to her credit, she got on and did it anyway, despite all the negative self-talk that was going on.

 

 

...if you ever, EVER, EVER hear yourself saying "I can't do this,"  STOP YOURSELF THERE AND THEN!

 

Replace that thought with, "I can do this; I will do this!"

 

Will is an incredibly powerful word.  It eliminates any thoughts - any possibility - of not succeeding.

 

You owe it to yourself, you owe it to those around you, not to settle for being anything less than the best you can be.