One of my earliest climbing memories about not-climbing is from a spring morning. It was 2005 and I was on a short trip to Smith Rocks with the youth climbing program from my hometown.

It’s not early anymore, but the daylight is muted by low rainclouds. It’s not raining hard, but the sound on the tent makes it feel like a downpour. The noise means I don’t need to get out of my tent. The noise inspires the thought, “I don’t have to climb today.“I feel relieved. .

I don’t remember any other details, nor can I distinguish that trip from others. All I can recall is the relief I felt when I knew I wouldn’t have to climb that day. Even now, the memory washes over me as if I were sinking my body into a hot bath.

Climbing brings me so much joy and purpose. Why is it then, that I sometimes feel dread instead of stoke? Without an excuse (oh, what lovely rain), I feel guilty for not wanting to climb. It is fun and shouldn’t feel like homework nor an obligation. It’s an activity that I can throw my body and heart into; so, instead I do my best to follow my intuition about (not) wanting to climb. I have a slew of tricks for maintaining a healthy attitude towards climbing. Here are five of my favorites.

Five Simple Tricks for Moving Through (or Preventing) Slumps in Motivation

1. Changing my clothes

My favorite trick is change into non-climbing clothes as soon as I can. I also wash my hands and feet. It leaves me feeling fresh and ready to enjoy my non-climbing activities. This helps me avoid the slump in motivation. Prevention can be the best medicine.

2. Not climbing

I am thankful to have many other aspects to my life outside of climbing. Spending a day not-climbing when I know I could be climbing builds up my motivation. The hardest part for me is to not feel guilty about it.

Participating in other sports or outdoor activities helps too, especially if I’m feeling dependent on physical exercise as an emotional outlet and to wear my body out for sleep. It also helps me avoid feeling down on myself for not climbing. I often spend a brief amount of time running, for example, and immediately begin to think positively about climbing. Climbing is just so much better than running…

3. Change it up: disciplines

Vertical exploring on bits or chunks or hunks of rock is multifaceted. When I find my motivation waning, I try mixing it up by changing either the style or discipline.

For example, if I’ve been focused on a single project, I might spend a few days onsighting instead. Switching between whole disciplines can be a game changer too, such as from trad to sport or bouldering to ultra-running.

If I’m feeling timid or mentally weak, I’ll seek out particularly safe climbs in grades above my onsight level. I find the exploratory process of potential projects to be relaxing and fun. There’s no pressure to send; instead, it’s an opportunity to expand my arsenal of movement.

4. Change it up: people

The people I climb with can boost or dampen my motivation. A bummed-out partner can drag me down. And there are some people who are more susceptible to my mood swings than others. Spending time thinking about the dynamic I’m having with my partner can bring insight into the factors that influence my state-of-mind. I don’t feel psyched while climbing with this partner, so what can I do to improve this interaction? Does it come from me? Or them? What kind of conversation should we have? How can I improve this?

Changing up my climbing partners – or even just the people near me when I’m climbing – helps me break out of thought patterns and think creatively. There’s always another way to look at a situation.

I learn from every single climbing partner, no exceptions. Watching someone try their best can ramp up my stoke-o-meter to 120. Climbing with someone who wants to learn from me can help me bring me outside of myself, allowing me to enjoy my day on the rocks without worrying about my motivation. Despite the solitary nature of climbing, we depend on our partners. Creating positive feedback loops with my partners helps me stay motivated.

5. Facing fear and persevering

Slumps in motivation come from somewhere. When I identify the source, I’m better able to move past the slump. I find that my lack of motivation often comes from three sources (and occasionally they converge): plain old exhaustion, work-stress, and climbing-related fear and nervousness.

Feeling physically and mentally tired sometimes sneakily seeps into stoke. I find that when I’m deeply fatigued, I feel more uncertain and unpsyched than muscle-sore. Resting doesn’t seem necessary, but when I don’t, I’m unmotivated and climb poorly. The body needs to come down and relax before it come it can come back up again. When I ease back into climbing after an extra bit of rest, I feel reborn on the wall.

The solution to the first two is often to not climb, while feeling fear or nervous about climbing is something that I can overcome by feeling, facing, and moving through those emotions while out climbing.

“She’s supposed to always smile. She’s supposed to be brave. She’s supposed to always be psyched…”

This pressure comes from within. I create it as if it were from elsewhere. Sometimes when someone says to me, “I love how you’re always motivated to climb.” I hear instead that they won’t like me when I’m not excited. These ideas are made up, I make them up. Therefore, I have the power to remake them.

Rather than swallowing guilt, nervousness, or a lack of motivation, I find that accepting them and letting them pass through me is a more effective way to come through to the other side, once again excited as can be to participate in this activity that I find flippin’ fantastic.

I tell myself: “If you don’t feel motivated to climb, that’s okay. Step back, don’t poison it. You might feel differently tomorrow or next week. Humans are dynamic creatures, even those that shy away from dynos.”