Struggling with overwhelming or unuseful fear can be incredibly frustrating and feel hopeless at times. Unchecked it drains the joy from our climbing and ultimately impacts ours and our partners' experience. This article and exercise will help to begin to mend the rift between your heart and your brain.

This is a great exercise for those of us who can sometimes feel anxious or intimidated when we are climbing in front of others. While it is normal to have a hard time climbing in front of a crowd it can hold us back and steal our joy. It doesn’t have to be this way though! Follow the instructions in this exercise to begin to change the way you experience climbing in front of others.

A simple shift in where our attention is focused can be the game changer between having a positive, successful experience on a climb or getting overwhelmed, pumped out and falling off. Use this exercise to hone a unique skill to focus your attention where you want it to be when the mind starts to wonder.

So, while getting stronger and improving footwork may increase the chances of sending, our true point of power lies in the ability to shift our attention and focus on a conclusion that interests us and is geared toward learning and growth as a climber.

If you are experiencing irrational or unuseful fear while climbing this is a great exercise to begin to build the skill of distinguishing between true fears and imagined ones. We need to have some fear to keep us safe when climbing but having irrational fear can be dangerous in it’s own right.