Climb to new heights!

When you think about getting outside of your comfort zone at camp, climbing is often the first thing people think of. Getting 50 feet off the ground makes most people feel a little nervous, which is honestly probably a good thing when you think about it! Even if you know intellectually that we have safety systems in place to manage the actual risk [check out this video with Andy and Elizabeth for a run down of our climbing systems at the tower!], there is still a high level of perceived risk. This is what makes your heart start to beat a little faster when you’re climbing, even though you’re tied in and you know you’ll be safe if you take a fall.

At Gwynn Valley, our founder (Miss Mary) encouraged everyone to ‘do something difficult every day.’ Some days, this might be climbing, but other days it might be saying “hi” first to a new friend, or giving a presentation in front of your peers, or remembering to be compassionate in the heat of a political disagreement. Every time we work through a challenge, we are building resiliency skills and collecting tools that will serve us in each future challenge, however big or small, for the rest of our lives. Remembering what we have accomplished can help us feel strong and confident!

If quarantine has you running low on dinner table conversation topics try asking – What difficult thing did you try today? What was that like? What big challenges have you overcome in your life? How have they made you stronger?

Keep climbing!