Challenging your comfort zone
As we age and find ourselves in our midlife years, there comes a time when we wonder about whether unfulfilled dreams for our lives will ever come to pass, whether it is too late to go after that daring career move, go on that awesome expedition for a holiday, etc.
This time, I chat about the importance of scaling the heights in our lives, acknowledging our own limitations – real or imagined – and the perseverance and patience required to achieve lofty goals. I will illustrate these through an immensely profound mountaintop experience or two.
Some of us may be wondering what the new year may have in store. Tired of the usual, trite resolutions, but desperate to make both life and time count, and looking for ways to find fulfilment. Time is, after all, as a friend reflected, our currency when we get to this age. It is so precious and we are acutely aware that some moments will never come to pass again.
But what are your limits … what are mine? What would we need to do in order achieve a once-in-a lifetime-type dream, tick off an item on a bucket list or the like? Whatever it is that makes us feel that life is worth living? Well, let me start by telling you about the mountaintop experience I referred to earlier.
Sky ladder
Have you ever heard of Austria’s Sky Ladder or ladder to heaven as it is also called? It is to be found in the postcard-beautiful Austrian countryside and is a 43-metre-long metal ladder that bridges a giant gorge. The phenomenon looks like a few pieces of string strung across the skyline, but is significant because climbers use it via ferrata-style to ultimately summit the peak of the Great Donnerkogel. Though the lush Austrian countryside below is all one dreams Austria to be, the hulking mountains to be bridged tower over the scene stand in stark contrast.
Via what? Via ferrata has been described as a mountain activity somewhere between scrambling and rock climbing. It is a mountain route that is equipped with fixed ladders, cables, and bridges in order to be accessible to climbers and hikers. Unsurprisingly, it also means “Iron Way” in Italian.
I had first come across a video depicting the treacherous nature of this ladder a few years ago and immediately knew that it was something I would never attempt. “No way”, I sensed with everything in me that I would surely die. This sentiment was solidified recently when I watched another clip and “No way” was still my reaction to doing anything as insane as all that. It was for professional mountaineers right, not just anyone could fulfil the dream of undertaking such a death-defying trip. Well, that is what I believed.
Done the unthinkable
With that in mind, I am sure that you could only imagine my astonishment recently, when scrolling through my feed, I happened upon the thumbnail of a post of my favourite travel vloggers on YouTube, Kara and Nate Buchanan. And yes, you guessed it. They had done the unthinkable. Now I certainly wasn’t going to miss this. Why on earth?
If you are unfamiliar with this couple, they hail from Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States. I binge-watched their channel at the beginning of the pandemic as they documented their dream of visiting 100 countries before Nate’s milestone 30th birthday. Though organised, they have an incredibly adaptable approach to life, even exchanging international travel for van life during the pandemic.
Never known to shy away from life’s challenges, they are always experiencing new things and trying new food all the while taking the odd, unavoidable mishap in their stride.
They have had many a physical challenge from swimming the stretch from the infamous Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay to shore, to all kinds of things on bicycles, planes, trains and ships and more besides including cruising the North Pole, you name it. But somehow, I did not think that they would have attempted this alpine adventure of these epic proportions.
I watched the intro with mild horror. They revealed that this ladder, comprised of a number of metal rungs, was wobbly. Literally, it looked like the most unsteady ladder suspended between lofty, jagged mountain peaks joined by iron pegs in the steep rock faces. Certainly, this was not going to be your run-of-the-mill afternoon for these two then by any means.
Thoroughly enticed, I watched as they proceeded to provide more detail reverting to earlier on in that day. It had started out with rain, but with a promise of sunshine later on in the day. They persisted and waited it out. It did, however, afford them plenty of opportunity for the pervasive self-doubt, worry and fear to beset them and the temptation to call it quits was ever before them. They did not give up.
Carabiners on the trail
Once the decision had been made to proceed on the trail, they showed how they had used carabiners to make their way around the mountain and their ascent though craggy rock faces. Though accompanied by breath-taking vistas, it always looked terrifying. The steel pegs that they needed to scale the mountain on were a mere three inches – about 7,5 cm – out of the mountain, literally all that kept them suspended in the air was a cable. Early on Kara expressed that her fingers were frozen. Stomach-churning stuff – one wrong move and something bad could happen. I was glued to the screen to see what would happen next. My nerves ….
I mean, did someone check to see if the pegs were secured properly? It is enough to induce dry mouths and some sweat surely. After some research, I discovered that mountaineers graciously check these things. Kara attempted the ladder first surrounded by dreary grey facades with the wind as company and terra firma thousands of feet below, some 600 m or so. My chest pulled tight just watching it. She sputtered that she was shaking and her heart was racing, not unlike my own at that moment.
“It is definitely higher, wobblier and scarier in real life.”
Kara Buchanan
At this point Kara said, “It is definitely higher, wobblier and scarier in real life.” All the while Kara was methodically hooking carabiners and proceeding to the top of the ladder, her husband was shouting words of encouragement. Characteristically, she quipped about not knowing how he managed to talk her into it. Nate has always had a way of convincing the fun-loving Kara to join him on his crazy adventures and he had previously admitted that he was more comfortable with the physical challenges.
As she moved further up the ladder, she exclaimed that it only became wobblier and that unclipping the carabiners was hard because then she was only holding on with one arm. The tension was building and gripping me tight and I was nowhere near that mountain, vicariously experiencing everything through their magnificent filming of the ascent. In contrast to me, they had nerves of steel.
Dangling between mountains
She had to look down to ensure her footing every time she climbed a metal rung of the ladder the entire time she was climbing, no avoiding that. My stomach lurched just seeing her dangling between mountains – with a 600 m drop to appreciate down below and steep elevation and a mind-numbing climb awaiting her atop. But then casually, well to my ears, she mentioned that the last part was even scarier.
Back to Nate and his ascent up the ladder … He then expressed that the ladder was actually so shaky and that he wasn’t so sure whether it was his legs or the ladder. Probably a bit of both was his final musing on the matter. He mentioned that he would just proceed step by step. Slowly but surely he made his to the other side. He affirmed that it was terrifying but that he would be in no other place and that he felt so alive just doing that. It was followed by an exclamation that it was in the category of the top three craziest things he had ever done.
I, for one, would probably have fainted out there. Forty plus metres dangling on a ladder with only metal rungs, wobbly ones at that separating one from relative safety and certain death is as scary as it gets and this girl, your host, has limits. No kamikaze mission for me, thanks.
Candid admission
After Kara’s candid admission that she was about to take on the toughest part of the climb, I was just dumbfounded and thought: “What”? No platform to just relax and enjoy the feat, no welcoming committee to pat her on the back and congratulate on her for being one of the brave few to ever try something like that. No, she had to do a vertical climb up a steep slope to summit the mountain. I know for sure if I managed to make it that far that vertical climb would be my undoing.
Just watching her scramble up and have NOTHING below unequivocally convinced me of that. If you are anything like me, I am sure you are wondering whether going straight back down was an option. I have since discovered that it is not: once you start, you have to finish, no turning back, and believe me going back over that treacherous piece of the journey seemed way easier than the final ascent to the top. Never mind brain fog, my brain would freeze and that is what would get to me and real fear of heights.
I watched Nate literally climbing on a knife edge of a mountain with very little wiggle room to do anything, just hold on for dear life. At any point, he or Kara could trip and slip right off the mountain. And it looked desolate – the mountain was pockmarked having weathered its own storms over the years with its share of fissures and crevices. It looked craggy, ragged and uninviting, and I wondered it if was worth it.
Had they gone too far?
I wondered whether getting content for one’s channel required all that effort. Knowing that if their mentality was not quite as it should have been that day, they could have had quite a problem up there in the clouds. An emergency or tragedy was a real possibility.
It is, therefore, a relief to be able to share that Nate also made mention that they had spent a lot of time training their bodies so that they could be ready to take on this challenge as they had received flak before for other adventures. Thus it served as a caveat for prospective adrenaline junkies– you have to know your stuff to do this. Though they had not had plenty of via ferrata training in the run-up to this climb, they certainly had taken on plenty of other adventures and opportunities to train physically.
As they huddled together at the summit, Kara revealed what had driven her right up the ladder, it was the thought of hugging that cross at the peak and that feeling of victory. That was what pushed them up a mountain. At that point, I was really challenged to think about my own comfort zone. Then the inevitable question popped up in my mind: What motivates you and where are you going? I needed to answer that for myself.
Inspiration for a fledgling creative
As a budding digital content creator and fledgling creative, I appreciate the content they produce that showcases not only great teamwork, but #creativity and innovative camera work with a hefty dose of post-production skills as well. They are the complete package – highly commendable.
I reflected on a clip where they shared about their heady earlier years, how they had taken a leap of #faith to do what they were doing despite having very little evidence that it would work out in the beginning. Yet, this was a leap of faith on a whole new level . They were scaling the heights and proving that the sky is the limit in a rather angst-provoking way and proved that they never shy away from taking a calculated risk.
As this self-confessed scaredy-cat was recovering from a racing heart, I considered my own life. Two things came to mind:
First, that I would take my own limitations in my stride. In Cape Town, there is a cable car that one can take to access the top of the majestic Table Mountain. It has a rotating floor and as you make your ascent it rotates and you feel like you may in fact hit the side of the mountain, well it did to me. And I hide my nerves by observing people closely and distracting myself from the idea that that floor separates me from sometimes lush rocky terrain below and a mountain where not a few hikers have had difficulty and some have even died.
My forte is not mountaineering or rock climbing and I have a healthy fear of heights. The point is I still got to the top of one of the Seven Wonders of the World and could enjoy its intoxicating beauty without, dare I say it, the exhilaration of a death-defying climb, but it was good enough for me.
Secondly, #fear of heights has literally been the stuff of my nightmares for nearly two decades now. I know I am anxious when I have height-related dreams. For example, I wake up in a cold sweat after I realise my dream had me dangling from buildings like the Chrysler or Empire known for their height, despite never having been there. Or I dream about jumping from helicopters or being in a penthouse surrounded by glass and feeling oh so queasy.
So to say that this was a challenge to my comfort zone is an understatement. Yet, I have been feeling like I need a bit more out of life. And perhaps, I do believe, I will take a page out of their book, and live a little more intentionally and courageously.
I realise how fearful I still am … that it really holds me back. The thought of emulating their dangling hundreds of metres in the air, not a chance. Or is there? Just 40-odd metres. Can I do that? Can you?
This year, I hope that I will be that little bit more #courageous. It may be that I will overcome in some small ways to start off. Build on it and who knows where it can get me. Because let’s face it, in the day-to-day grind, we don’t have to climb sky ladders – there are plenty of everyday scary stuff for us to get a handle on.
Kara and Nate’s feat just vividly helped me to understand what is possible. I think that is the reason it let me sit up straight. If they can do it, why can’t I? You?
As I was inspired to extend my comfort zone, I wish the same for you. Remember Nate’s words to getting it done was taking it step by step. That is all it takes sometimes, one foot in front of the other as long as we have the #goal in sight and willing to overcome the fear.
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