Staying stoked

I'm not sure about you all, with COVID and all I found staying stoked has gotten harder. Especially when you move away from climbing partners constantly. How do you all stay at it?

Luckily my wife is my main climbing partner.

Seems like you should stop moving away from climbing partners? If its your job then maybe consider getting a new one?

I found it was super easy to stay motivated during COVID. There was nothing to do except for train and work on local projects. No distractions from social events, work from home made training the one time I left the house (or at least went to my garage) so I looked forward to it more, and I had extra time from cutting out my commute and additional in-person duties. Obviously everyone is different and has a different situation. I don't need people around to get stoked and I enjoy training for its own sake. Also my work schedule during COVID made it easier and not harder. 

Sounds like you need people for motivation? Or just a belayer? I bouldered a lot during COVID (I usually prefer just about any type of roped climbing) but this allowed me to go by myself and try hard. TR soloing is also a great way to get after it by yourself. The main thing is you want goals that you can achieve but are still challenging and get you really excited. If you are moving around a lot then maybe you want to climb a route(s) of a certain grade that is easily red pointed at each place you go. You can TR solo the route to get it dialed while you are still finding partners. 

Hopefully that helps.

Planning fun trips keeps me stoked. This year we went to Indian creek, joes and cottonwood for a couple weeks in the spring, index for 4 days around my birthday, 2 weeks in Leavenworth in summer, and kalymnos, margalef and siurana for our fall trip. Trips are super fun because you can plan ahead with people you haven’t seen in a while. It’s a fun way to meet up with old friends and get stoked and sendy. And then the stoke is high to train for the next adventure. Even if it’s at the gym ( where you can meet fun new people!)  

Don't climb for a while, and try to remember why you even started climbing in the first place.

For me, I remember seeing images of someone climbing To Bolt Or Not To Be around 1991. I thought it was basically aid climbing, since it is so blank and I didn't fully comprehend the situation. Then I realized that it was someone free climbing and that seemed utterly impossible. How the F can a human move up a relatively blank wall. Can you imagine not knowing anything about climbing any looking up and even fathoming getting up a wall like that without mechanical help? So cool. I bought a copy of the first edition of John Long's HTRC and was like - I NEED to try this. Recently, 30 years later, I was walking up a canyon visiting a climbing area for the first time. I got an early start and was alone (with my family). There were vert and slightly overhanging walls on both sides that were 40 meters high and pretty featureless looking except small tufas up high. I knew there were climbs there, but it was still amazing that this can even be done and that I now can propel myself (sometimes) up seemingly blank walls using my brain and body (and these strange tight shoes). So cool. No ego. No grades. No training. No pressure. Just climbing up a rock for the fun of it.

Feed the rat!

Stoke comes and goes, if you climb for a long time. It is simply not possible to stay perma-stoked for years and years on end.

Some things that have helped me regain the desire to train, in no particular order: 

-getting excited about a specific route/project
-finding a new training partner
-staying in touch with an old partner who is also training for something, and texting/messaging about your progress regularly
-signing up for a training plan. Sometimes paying for it is a motivation to "get your money's worth" out of it.
-stepping away from climbing for a couple of weeks. Giving yourself permission to not go to the gym, if you don't want to. Call it your recovery phase. Do something fun. Do some work on your house you've been putting off.

Another thing that keeps me stoked is to not focusing soooo much on training. Just like have fun! Go chase aesthetic routes not grades. When I take climbing seriously and constantly feel like I need to push myself and have projects and train, the stoke kind of diminishes. It’s not that serious. So many people make climbing and projects and training .. a silent competition. Just go have fun!