Excellent post slim. Very well said.

Thanks for your replies! I liked the one about the competitive aspect of it because I was just thinking how a lot of this comes from my uber-competitive personality! I've read the RWW, but in some ways, it doesn't deal with everything (at least for me). But, I love hearing everyone's ideas.
Seems like good climbing partners are key! And not assuming that just because there are lots of people out there who will diss new climbers, that not everyone is that way. Damn, it's just a bitch when people are climbing 6 grades harder than you, next door, and so laid back. Damn them for looking so good!
-Shan

I think it's all about perspective, how you choose to look at climbing.

When I first started climbing harder a few years ago, I would push myself really hard and get really mad at myself when I failed. I would never throw a tantrum, but I would grumble to myself, grouch at my belayer, and generally let it ruin my day.

But then, a little over 2 years ago I was in an accident, and I was unable to climb for about a year. When I finally got back into climbing, it was an entirely different experience. First of all, after a year of zero climbing, I sucked. I was 30 pounds heavier, and totally out of shape. It was extremely frustrating to be able to read a climb, only to realize my body was incapable of doing the moves. Talk about an ego check.

I think dealing with that initial "suckage" taught me a lot of patience with climbing. Part of me just wanted to quit-because it was so damn frustrating-but another part of me wanted to keep going because I knew I would get better. I stuck with it, and when I started making progress, it was one of the most rewarding feelings I've ever experienced.

I also think that being unable to climb for so long helped me remember why I like to climb in the first place. I like to climb because it's fun, it's liberating, and it feels good to work my body hard. Somewhere along the line I lost focus, and just started pushing, pushing, pushing for harder grades. When I started climbing again I couldn't climb hard, so all that was left for me was to have fun.

Now I've been climbing for a little over a year again, and I'm climbing harder than I ever have, and enjoying it more than I ever have. I set goals for myself, and yes, I get frustrated when I fail on my redpoint attempts, but then I remind myself why I'm out there in the first place. It's to have fun and to improve myself, not to get mad and drive myself crazy.

Recently I've been climbing with a 16 year old kid I met at the gym, and the dude is a prodigy. He recently sent his first 12c on his 3rd attempt, and is projecting a few different 13's. We'll go climb and he'll send my projects after a couple tries. In years past, that would have infuriated me, but now I love it. It's super exciting to watch him improve and grow, and it gives me motivation to push myself and catch up to him (if I can... haha...)

Anyway, I realize I'm kinda rambling here, and I didn't give any specific advice for other people, but maybe someone can learn something from my experiences.

With regards to worrying about what other people think, I'd definitely recommend taking a look at "Nine out of ten climbers make the same mistake." One of the points was that climbers are usually focused and very seldom pay any attention to people climbing easier routes. Consequently, unless you are screaming obscenities people aren't even noticing you.