I enjoy reading Dave Macleod’s climbing blog. I know nothing about climbing and have NO desire to do what he does. Way too scary!
But I enjoy his attitude and his philosophy on life. Take this post for example, which Dave has kindly said I can quote from:
For the past two and a half years, Morrisons in Fort William have stocked a delightful looking raspberry cheesecake, placed according to the conventions of supermarket choice architecture, right in my line of sight as I head for the milk. I can’t miss it, every time.
I love raspberry cheesecake, but as a climber who isn’t naturally light enough for the grades I want to climb, I feel that I must set limits, and something like that – an out and out treat – is the most obvious target. This is why I’m two stones (28 pounds) lighter than I was at 16 years of age and can climb many grades harder too. Don’t get me wrong, I eat plenty (and I mean plenty!) when I know I’m using the energy.
Since I first spotted it, I’ve been tempted every time I’m in there to buy it and munch it. But I didn’t. At first I thought “when I do the Ring of Steall Project, I’ll buy that cheesecake”. I finished the project, but not the cheesecake. Then, I thought, “when I finally top out on Don’t Die, I’m having that bloody cheesecake out of Morrisons”. But I didn’t. Eventually, it was “When I do Echo Wall, this time I’m definitely eating the cheesecake”, and then “when I’ve edited the film” etc. You get the picture.
I’ve picked it up at least four times, and had it in my basket and put it back twice. What’s going on here? Nothing seems to be big enough to deserve the damn cheesecake. Today I picked it up and stared at it again, and put it back, unable to think of anything I’d done that even remotely deserved to break the previous cheesecake denial.
What the hell do I have to do to earn the cheesecake?
You may ask yourself, am I going somewhere with this? The answer I’m afraid, for the moment, is not really. This post is an open question I suppose: Just what deserves the cheesecake???
I’ve echoed the thoughts of many others before in stressing the importance of the process of what you do and finding enjoyment in that, rather than the result at the end. So in one sense, celebration of successes is a bit meaningless. Why celebrate when the enjoyable part (the thing you are celebrating) is over? Celebrate by finding the next thing.
So maybe I’ve got my thinking the wrong way round? Is the finding of a new hard project worthy of the cheesecake, rather than the completion of it? In the next month I am going to try a project I expect to be quite a lot harder than Echo Wall. If that proves the right thing for me to dedicate myself to, should I head for Morrisons? I might have just persuaded myself…
I began this blog post with the idea of using Dave’s tale as a lead in to my own conclusion. But I think he has actually nailed what I was going to say anyway. So I’ll leave it at that, give you the link to his site here, and go make myself a cup of tea.
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4 Comments
Dave has some fantastic insights into the psychology of pushing the limits. Take the posts on fear of falling. Replace the word “falling” with “failing” and it applies to pretty all aspects of life.
Perhaps nowing that the cheese cake is there, and that it can be a reward for a hard triumph is enough?
But, Fearghal, is the eating of the cake not destined to be an anti-climax after so long spent dreaming about it?
Exactly!
The cheese cake looses its talismanic properties once its eaten. Its far more powerful as an ideal; unottainable and distant symbol of indulgence. Much like Angelina Jolie.