When JETLAG Impacts Your Climbing

I've traveled overseas quite a bit, especially to Russia. And one of the things I typically dread the most is the jetlag.  It's that feeling that starts the moment you arrive in a new country or return home,  when you know that your body is still on another time very different from where you are.

For a day or two the tiredness is really strong but then starts to recede. After a few days it's just a wave that returns every now and then but you get over it much more quickly.

I'm pretty convinced that the feelings we go through when climbing a personal mountain are a bit like jetlag. At the beginning the grief, for example, is very strong but over time it gets better.

However, like jetlag we can think that our grief, depression or whatever won't come back but it does, sometimes when we least expect it.  Out of nowhere we're crying again wondering why we hurt so badly.  We begin to feel guilty that we're experiencing grief, depression or discouragement again.

I've learned something important about jetlag that applies to the rest of life as well. We can do some things to reduce and assist us with jetlag but we'll never get rid of it completely. We have to accept that its presence is normal and OK.

In the same way, those waves of emotion that show up again during our times of struggle are normal as well.  We cannot skip them, wish or pray them away.

So be encouraged.  You're likely not abnormal, messed up or in need of major therapy (though don't be afraid to get help).  If you can't beat all the emotions that accompany your climb, then as the saying says, "join them."  Embrace them, accept them, walk through them. Climb with some others who understand.

The jetlag will end and so will the worst of your struggle. Never quit climbing.