We woke up to the sound of a little girl singing in her bedroom. Bleary-eyed from broken sleep my husband muttered to me, “Now that’s the sound of a happy child.” My daughter was singing Miley Cyrus—what else but The Climb? She doesn’t always get the words exactly right, but she sure is enthusiastic. (And sings in a very cute American accent.)
I can almost see it, that dream I’m dreamin’
But there’s a voice inside my head sayin’ you’ll never reach it.
This girl is always begging for us to do things ‘as a family’ and came up with the idea of us going to an indoor climbing centre for kids. Why not? we thought. It’s the weekend. We even found a two-for-one voucher.
And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushin’ on.
Oh the excitement. What a fabulous place; it was like a climbing cave of wonders. The tether ropes are counterweighted so they actually help pull the kids up, and coming down is half the fun.
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna want to make it move
I strapped my daughter into her harness while her daddy buckled up her big brother and juggled the baby (who just wanted to get climbing too). The first wall the kids attempted was composed of back-lit colourful bricks. Big brother scurried up and swung down grinning. Little sister (a regular spider monkey) bounced excitedly on the spot waiting for her turn.
As she climbed up, we stood below cheering her on, until we realised that she was . . . sobbing? But still climbing!? She was about three-quarters of the way up the wall, terrified but still keeping going.
There’s always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
“Come back, honey; let go, just come down,” I called. She returned to earth and crumpled in a tearful heap. I unclipped my baby girl and cuddled her while she sobbed, “I don’t want to do this anymore, I want to go home.” The floor manager saw our plight and hurried over, offering a jar of sweeties. He spoke to her about just climbing as high as she felt comfortable and then coming back down. She wiped off her tears but was still unconvinced. I suggested that we just have a walk around and see if there was anything that took her fancy to have a go at, which she reluctantly agreed to.
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s The Climb.
We explored the rest of the attractions, my daughter rejecting plenty of colourful and imaginative climbing options . . . until she spotted a rope ladder. This one looked doable. She climbed a few rungs, looking back to me for reassurance. A couple more, then she dropped back to earth, smiling. “That was easy,” she said. And then she tried again. And again. And again. Going a little higher each time, she regained her confidence so much that before long she made it all the way to the top. This time when she landed she hugged me, laughing. “This is so much fun mama! I love it! Let’s try something else!”
It’s all about, it’s all about the Climb
And that was that. For the rest of our time she used that strategy: Climb as far as she was comfortable with, then come back to safety. Try again and go a little further. Keep going and eventually reach the top. Before we left she even surpassed her big brother and made it all the way to the top of some mountainous green pillars, inspiring him to go again and climb higher as well.
There’s a lesson there, isn’t there?
Keep the faith, Keep the faith
Keep climbing, keep moving
Whatever it is that scares us, whatever we need to conquer, we can take a few little steps . . . a few more . . . retreat to safety, then try again. All we have to do is keep trying and we’ll get there.
And we may even wake up one morning, singing . . .
- I Hate It When People Talk Through Concerts by Stephen Garton
- The Ones We Never Knew by Kristy Drake
- The Black Cloud by Simone Graham
- “Dear Gym Guy…” by Simone Graham
- When Happiness Eludes by Kristy Drake
- Darkness Like A Flood by Kristy Drake
