A friend just completed an amazing feat of climbing arguably the hardest long multi-pitch free climb in the world. It was covered in the news because it is such an amazing feat. The practice and preparation took 7 years. The actual ascent took 19 days of sleeping on the side of a rock face hundreds and thousands of feet above the ground. Eating, sleeping in a hammock like tent. Yet, this is one of many ascents he has done, all of which have required some level of discomfort. And it will not be long before he will be planning the next ascent. The next unclimbed project to try.
This is how we are as humans. We long to accomplish great things and we also long for security, safety, comfort and ease. When we achieve the success we work so hard for, the comfort and ease, we can enjoy it only briefly before we long for something else. It is the longing itself that makes us uncomfortable.
Swami Rama said, "Know your dharma (purpose) and learn to love it." This is one of the key teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Tommy Caldwell, a lifetime climber certainly is living his dharma... to climb the next impossible line. And he has certainly learned to love the parts of us that most of us could not tolerate.
What is the think that you must do above all others, despite the discomfort? And can you learn to love the discomfort?
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