Just Do It!

By Pat Gallagher

What have I always wanted to try? Nothing comes quickly to mind. It probably says something about me that I have a much longer list of things I have absolutely no desire to try: sky-diving, bungee-jumping, para-sailing, scuba diving…the list goes on. I was reminded of this the other day when I saw the photo of my 25-yr-old grandson facing a concrete climbing wall at Twente University in the Netherlands. The 100-foot-high wall is studded with hundreds of colorful hand and toe holds that allow the climber to scale the wall in different ways. In the photo Rik is harnessed up, waiting to ascend. It is his first time.

Rik was born with two club feet, endured multiple surgeries as an infant to lengthen the affected tendons and spent months with casts on his tiny legs, as he learned to crawl, to stand, to walk. It is not an uncommon problem but the consequences can be lifelong. Throughout his growing-up years Rik has had many rounds of physical therapy to strengthen his ankles, develop balance. He learned to walk, run, swim, cycle, row, ski…In spite of his strength there was always awareness of the weakness left behind by the surgeries. He learned to compensate and has become a very patient person, determined when its required, and very philosophical. He’d brought all this to bear on that 100 ft wall and he prevailed. 

I have never wanted to try climbing. I am very nervous of heights and don’t feel a need or desire to challenge myself there. I’m comfortable with my physical abilities, such as they are. In fact, I don’t think “trying” is the best way to frame the question. But if you ask me “What is something you’ve always wanted to do?” this is what I’d tell you. A few years ago, I made a commitment to myself to take my writing more seriously, to write every day – a practice I’d only dreamed of. “Getting it right” – my inchoate thoughts, feelings, ideas became the goal. Once in a while the words come together and tell me something new or express precisely what I’d been thinking, feeling. More often the words scatter like beads of mercury before I can gather them together.

There is no resting on the oars in this work. The waters can be treacherous and carry me places I’d rather not go. The challenge is to go there anyway. It is in the going that the truth will arrive. I shall never have the satisfaction of climbing a wall, nor the endorphin rush that accompanies success at meeting extreme physical challenges. But I have had, and hope to have again, the moment of pleasure that comes with the achievement of writing one perfect sentence.