Climbing means so much to me. It's my world - it's my passion, it's largely who I am, it's what I do, it's what I dream of and in the last few years it's even become my career. I could write countless blog posts about why and how much I love this pursuit (and I suppose that's what jstarinorbit is all about anyways). But it's also not quite everything to me, and recently I felt like I needed a little reminder. It had been a long time since I really took a break.
I'm so thankful that I have the resources and support to enjoy this life - even a life without climbing. So what do I do without it? I would travel. I would listen to music. And I would be around friends. Take away climbing and thankfully I still feel driven by other passions, and despite how easy it can be to forget this - there's much much more to living. Climbing just makes it all better.
It was exactly what I had hoped for. A brilliant escape. Not the most restful vacation, but we made a list of great memories - every late night and early morning was damn well worth it.
Now I'm back in Colorado where I'll be picking up a rigorous training schedule and looking ahead to the winter climbing season. I've got bigger goals on my horizon than ever before and it's going to take some growth on my part to make them happen. A muerte!