Unlike the previous years, as a family we decided to return to Dubai after a short vacation back home in Kerala. Summer holidays for kids continued and the school was meant to reopen by end of August. Since we could not do much on the weekdays, we all looked forward to the weekends to have our special time together as a family. We usually found an attraction or an experience we never had in the past and the excitement of going somewhere new always filled the air on Saturday mornings.
Today was not different. We
decided to pay a visit to Mountain Extreme, the largest indoor climbing and
bouldering gym in Dubai. Both our kids were super excited at the prospect of climbing
the heights and having lots of fun. We reached the place around noon. After a
quick registration, we got into our climbing gear with safety harness and special
climbing shoes. It was followed by safety instructions to ensure that we
understood the dos and don’ts of this extreme sport.
Soon after the briefing was
completed, the instructor showed a demo of how to safely climb up and slide down.
All of us started climbing one by one. Though I had done this many years ago
during my visit to an adventure park, it felt quite a strain in the initial
minutes, probably due to lack of exercise or reduced exposure to such extreme sports
in the recent past. Having said that, kids seemed to be quite a natural when it
came to mountain climbing.
A few attempts into the
climb, I managed to reach halfway the wall. While the climb was strenuous, I could
attain considerable heights. But there was one area I struggled. Once I reached
a point where I decided it was better to slide down, I found an inertia to
leave the grip on the wall and allow the auto belay, the supporting rope system
to take me down in a controlled manner. Though I did let the auto belay do its
job, I guess, I did not fully trust the mechanism. This ended up me experiencing
a rough sliding each time I came down.
After a few hours and
multiple attempts, I almost decided that I am good at climbing and even reached
the top, but not that good at sliding down. My fear of sliding down got the
better of me. I even declared that I am done with all the climbing and was
mentally ready to return home accepting the fact that I am not good at sliding
down.
While a bit dejected, I sat
down to wait for my kids to finish their rounds. My ten-year-old little one,
continued to climb up and slide down like a pro. Watching her made me feel even
more disheartened since I was wondering if my little daughter could do
something like that, I should be able to do that as well. I waited for her to
come down from top and checked with her how she did the sliding down so
effortlessly. She advised me how it was done.
I decided not to succumb to
the fear. I connected the harness again and climbed up the wall. Reached halfway
and followed the exact advice given by my daughter. It worked wonderfully! I
was so excited that I climbed a few more times and each time the slide down was
better than before.
The trip home was something
akin to a General who won an impossible battle. There will always be fears in
our lives that we will face. Many of us will try to conquer them, with some succeeding
and others failing. Look around, find ways of winning from others, irrespective
of how accomplished they are. We will never know who could be the one to motivate
us towards our success.
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