“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not on the branch but on it’s own wings.  Always believe in yourself!”    (Anonymous)

Point to Ponder:
What “thing” in your life have you pretended to or attempted to be committed to?

Action Item:
No more excuses. Commit to that “thing” that needs and deserves your full commitment.

A few weeks ago while on the Monarch Escape in North Carolina I rock climbed for the very first time. I anticipated the experience would be challenging, scary and exhilarating (which it was, plus much more!), however I didn’t expect that I would walk away with life wisdom.

While rock climbing, a special bond is formed between the climber and belayer. The belayer is the climber’s anchor and is responsible for keeping slack out of the rope while the climber ascends. The belayer also must provide the climber with just enough slack so the climber can repel safely.  Therefore, while the climber climbs, if the belayer does not keep the rope taut, if and when the climber slips, it could get ugly.

As you can imagine, the climber relies heavily on the affirming words of the belayer, and in our group of eight, it most often sounded like this:

Climber yells down to the belayer “You got me?!”
Belayer yells up to climber: “YEP, I got you!”

It was always then that we, the climbers, felt confident enough to proceed to our next move, which many times felt hopeless.

In addition to having to trust our belayer (with our life, literally!), we also learned to listen to our ‘super chill’ and awesome guide, Wes. While climbing, many times we were certain there were no other spots to place our big toe or grab with our finger tips, but Wes always assured us there was. And, when I didn’t feel I could push myself any further and wanted to quit, he would simply say, “Neissa, commit to taking the next step.” Even though I doubted myself, I knew he was right (ugh!) and my body would do whatever my mind commanded and commited to doing — and it did!

So, our wisdom from the rock is this: Anything is possible as long as you trust and commit, but by the same token, defeat is inevitable if there is no trust or commitment.

Therefore, if you are wanting to make a positive change or pursue a goal, relationship, career, etc. commit to it! Without 100% commitment it’s merely a nice sounding idea or dream, which, at the end of the day will only use up precious time and energy and leave you feeling disappointed.

In addition to commiting, you must also trust yourself and trust the process. Know that even though the act of trusting may be extremely difficult, scary and filled with uncertainty, in the end you will have no regrets and plenty of confidence and wisdom to take you to your next big opportunity.

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