{"id":2977,"date":"2015-01-17T06:45:46","date_gmt":"2015-01-17T14:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=2977"},"modified":"2018-11-11T21:57:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T05:57:23","slug":"transcending-fun-embracing-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/transcending-fun-embracing-failure","title":{"rendered":"Transcending Fun, Embracing Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that we understand the official quantification of fun<\/a>, the next step is clear: seek out as many Type I experiences as possible, right?<\/p>\n

Yay, behold the mad rush to the waterslide, the line out the door at the all-you-can-eat-buffet, and endlessly top-roping routes we know we can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best climber in the world is the one having the most fun,\u201d the late, great Alex Lowe said. His comment was a deflection of the praise often bestowed upon him as perhaps the world\u2019s finest all-around climber. He was renowned for his technical prowess, his devotion to training and his unrelenting drive. The standard Alex Lowe photo seemed to show him sporting an ear-to-ear grin midway up a terrifying, cutting-edge route. The man operated on his own planet.<\/p>\n

Over the years, however, his famed quote has been co-opted into a climbing world clich\u00e9 that often doubles as an excuse for not trying hard, or for simply giving up. I\u2019ve lost count of the times I\u2019ve heard Alex\u2019s quote cited after a half-hearted effort\u2014usually disingenuously, with a shrug of the shoulders and an unconvincing smile.<\/p>\n

Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with quitting or going easy if that\u2019s what you want to do, but, then, why the self-justification?<\/p>\n

Ahhh, damn<\/em>. Fun, it turns out, isn\u2019t always so simple.<\/p>\n

Another quote from another world, that of a massive world-champion bodybuilder named Ronnie Coleman, sounds simple but gets at something deeper: \u201cEverybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.\u201d<\/p>\n

By way of disclaimer, I realize that some lucky souls find all the happiness they need from Type I fun. After all, the true master can experience transcendence from staring at a sunflower.<\/p>\n

Me, I\u2019m not quite there yet. And since you\u2019re reading this, I\u2019m guessing you aren\u2019t, either.<\/p>\n

So in the interest of preserving the sanctity of fun, I maintain that there\u2019s nothing wrong with failure. (This sounds self-serving, I know, since it\u2019s my specialty in life.)<\/p>\n

For most of us the transient fix of Type I rarely lasts, and so the risk of failure and the toil of effort are inextricably tied to a deeper level of fun. Truth is, we need something more than simple smiles; something committing, whatever your passion\u2014whether it\u2019s pushing yourself in the mountains, lifting heavy-ass weights, or striving to master an art.<\/p>\n

Which means we should embrace Type II and Type III \u201cfun.\u201d Even if it\u2019s no fun at the time.<\/p>\n

Maybe the true fun master\u2014or the best climber in the world\u2014isn\u2019t on the waterslide or top-roping easy routes all day, but out there trying hard, embracing the proverbial blood, sweat and tears, and all the while with a smile, striving to turn the struggle into a sunflower moment.<\/p>\n

\"Transcending<\/p>\n

It seemed like a good idea at the time\u2026struggling with fatigue 3,000 feet up a new route attempt on K7, Pakistan.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that we understand the official quantification of fun, the next step is clear: seek out as many Type I experiences as possible, right? Yay, behold the mad rush to the waterslide, the line out the door at the all-you-can-eat-buffet, and endlessly top-roping routes we know we can do. \u201cThe best climber in the world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[352,183,263],"internal-tag":[1674],"class_list":["post-2977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climb","tag-climb","tag-kelly-cordes","tag-pakistan","internal-tag-pre-redirect-climb"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/climb\/transcending-fun-embracing-failure","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Transcending Fun, Embracing Failure","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/transcending-fun-embracing-failure","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/transcending-fun-embracing-failure"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/Cordes-transcending-fun-P10201811500px.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/01\/Cordes-transcending-fun-P10201811500px.jpg?fit=1500%2C844"},"articleSection":"Climb","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Angela Crampton"}],"creator":["Angela Crampton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["climb","kelly cordes","pakistan"],"dateCreated":"2015-01-17T14:45:46Z","datePublished":"2015-01-17T14:45:46Z","dateModified":"2018-11-12T05:57:23Z"},"rendered":"