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From our
students—Not what I expected
by
Adam Kistler
I walked away at
the end of our class and all I could say was, "Well, that's
not at all what
I expected from a rock climbing class." But that wasn't
bad. I truly
enjoyed the class time that we had, and I truly wish that we
could have had more
of it. I learned a lot during those few short hours that
we spent together.
I learned about myself, and other people (both in the
class and otherwise),
and the process of rock climbing as well. I think
I'll talk about
the process of climbing first. Because, while this was
central to the class,
it almost seemed secondary in the long run. First
off, I learned a
new knot. I love learning new things, and learning that
knot was really
cool for me. I use it all the time now, especially at work,
so that was one
of the most helpful physical things I learned. Another
physical thing I
learned is that I need to rely more on my legs than I
thought I did.
Most of my strength is upper body, my upper body strength to
body weight ratio
is overwhelming. However, there were several times on the
wall, when it just
wasn't enough, and I realized I had to use my legs for
more than standing
on. And moving on.
One of the most interesting
parts of the debriefing that we did in class was
when you had everyone
spout off an adjective that they felt reflected on
their experiences.
I decided to write all of them down, and I'm going to
use them as the
basis for my paper because I feel that without the
experiences of everyone
else in that class, my experience would have been
completely different.
First, I'm going to talk about the things that I
learned about others,
and interactions, and the way in which the adjectives
relate to those.
The first word that jumps off of the page at me is TRUST.
Trust is key, not
only in rock climbing, in which you must trust your
partner, but in
the rest of life as well. To lose trust in someone else, or
for someone to lose
trust in you is one of the biggest disappointments a
person can have.
Partnership, the intimate relationship between both
climber and belayer
is intense. The teamwork that is felt between not only
these two people,
but everyone in the gym is amazing. I felt that I was a
part of a great
team while I was at that gym, and during our classroom time.
Several aspects
that added to this sense of team were; SUPPORT,
ENCOURAGEMENT, EXCHANGE,
and RESPECT. Each person in the class supported each other person
in the class. No one was up on the wall, or the trash
can, or the bleachers,
or being helped up, without the support of everyone.
The exchange that
happened in the class was almost always positive. Whether
we were exchanging
ideas or experiences in the classroom, or exchanging
encouragement at
the gym, it was all important. And finally, respect. I
know that I respected
each person in that class. They all impressed me in
one way or another.
I also began to have more respect for myself and my own
achievements.
I learned a lot about other people in this class. One of the
most moving experiences
I've ever had was listening to each person's story
at the end of class.
I haven't felt that close to a group of people in a
long time.
We moved through Blanchard's stages of development pretty
quickly it seemed.
Relationships between
people are extremely complex. I think that because of
the time that I
spent in this class, I am better able to handle all aspects
of my relationships
to other people. Situations will always arise in which
my normal choices
will not be available to me because of the actions and
decisions that have
been made by other people, but because I am able to look
into the deeper
aspects of my relationships with people, I think I will be
able to handle these
situations in a much better manner.
I learned many things
about myself. I learned that I have an almost
impossible time
opening up to people. It's not that I don't trust people, I
do, I just have
a hard time saying how I truly feel. I need to work on
that. I also
need to work on my life goals. I have some, but I don't know
how I want to achieve
them. That was one of the most important parts of
class for me.
The goal setting and accomplishments really hit home with me.
I found that this
class was an escape for me. I escaped from my life.
It's not that I
have a bad life, I don't. I really enjoy my job, I have a
girlfriend whom
I love very much, but the idea of escape was very prevalent
for me. I
needed the time to think about nothing else, to focus on nothing
except reaching
for that next hand hold, and trying to find a place for my
feet. My mind
needed a break. I'm only 19 years old, and I feel so
stressed out at
times that I just want to scream. But I also learned about
myself, and am still
learning about myself, that I have drive and
determination.
I will work my butt off to achieve a goal that I set for
myself. However,
I'm also very nervous about failure. I don't want to
fail, and I think
that I refuse to place goals in front of myself that I
have the possibility
of failing at. I need to find the confidence that will
lead me towards
higher accomplishments. I hope that I can overcome my
internal boundaries,
because I must do that before I can overcome any
external ones.
Hopefully with the help and support of other people, I will
gain that confidence,
and with my newly discovered drive, I will achieve my
lofty goals.
And all of this I learned in a rock climbing class. Who knew
that a trip up a
20 foot wall would be the easiest part in a trip into the
inner depths of
myself.
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