Sense of purpose in leaving regular life for climbing

It depends on your values and goals.

This assumes you have no outsigned financial support.... One advantage of earning money early in life is compounded interest for retirement.  The longer you wait to invest in retirement the less money you will have for it.

Things can be said about buying a home having a family and everything else.

Personally I find the key with climbing and life is to just find a balance that works.  Life values and goals can change quickly.

That's it if now is when you can focus on calling don't stop

As a typical selfish 20s male, someone who vowed to never have kids, and climbed passionately for 8 years, foregoing most modern respects of financial responsibility just enough to survive "comfortably" in the modern world to explore the outer world, once I hit 30 and stopped being a moron and had a kid, everything in your post will come to light, personally.

Listen to Alex, Beth, James pearson, Tommy,  before they had kids. Look at them now. Could you imagine being Connor Hersons dad? 

I guess I'm just cranky. Everything in climbing has been done anyway, just go enjoy the beauty ;)

Colin Rowewrote:

If it's a choice between tragic demise (high time preference) I have chosen low time preference, low insulin levels and ketosis. There is always opportunity costs.

Agree with most of your post, but you completely lost me here. How are insulin levels and ketosis related to your sense of purpose?

Five7Kevin Morriswrote:

As a typical selfish 20s male, someone who vowed to never have kids, and climbed passionately for 8 years, foregoing most modern respects of financial responsibility just enough to survive "comfortably" in the modern world to explore the outer world, once I hit 30 and stopped being a moron and had a kid, everything in your post will come to light, personally.

Listen to Alex, Beth, James pearson, Tommy,  before they had kids. Look at them now. Could you imagine being Connor Hersons dad? 

I guess I'm just cranky. Everything in climbing has been done anyway, just go enjoy the beauty ;)

not everybody will choose to have kids, even past thirty. and plenty others don't get the choice even if they want it. no need for (more) senseless moralizing.

J W wrote:

If you lack a sense of purpose, it’s because you haven’t paid sufficient attention. This is unlikely to strike you as profound, since scurrying around in perpetual distraction has dulled your senses, but in those intermittent moments of punctuated repose, notice how you’re not casting about for some extrinsic validation.

Everything is fine, exactly the way it is.

Work to your heart’s content. Climb every day. It makes no difference at all. If you’re unsatisfied, look inside. The mirror will tell you more than the telescope.

10/10   

J W wrote:

If you lack a sense of purpose, it’s because you haven’t paid sufficient attention. This is unlikely to strike you as profound, since scurrying around in perpetual distraction has dulled your senses, but in those intermittent moments of punctuated repose, notice how you’re not casting about for some extrinsic validation.

Everything is fine, exactly the way it is.

Work to your heart’s content. Climb every day. It makes no difference at all. If you’re unsatisfied, look inside. The mirror will tell you more than the telescope.

This made me stop and think, more so than most things I’ve read on MP this year.

To the OP: I’ve experienced most permutations of “being a climber,” whether living the Gram-orous dream on the road for long stints, or furtively hitting alt-tab on MP when the boss walks by the cubicle.

I found that regardless of my station in life, I enjoyed climbing most when I was most content with all of life. And whether I was content or not — that didn’t depend on how much or how hard I was climbing. 

I’ll leave the rest as an enthymeme, because true contentment is a gift given, not a plan prescribed.

As Radiohead and St. Paul would say, “everything in its right place.”

The end game is definitely part of this philosophical equation.  Question whether you want to kick it in a warm bed surrounded by loved ones or in a van down by the river/budget nursing home. Regular life can include plenty of climbing if done right.  Obviously trustifarians should just travel and climb,  the rest of us need to consider the future.

Permabetawrote:

Agree with most of your post, but you completely lost me here. How are insulin levels and ketosis related to your sense of purpose?

https://youtu.be/qZw_LmmOoyU?si=0ulLGQGwxW2w_UxE

In office right now 

I know autumn colors and temperatures are making their home in the land around me.

Something tells me I’m in the wrong place.

I miss the dirt. 

F r i t zwrote:

I found that regardless of my station in life, I enjoyed climbing most when I was most content with all of life. And whether I was content or not — that didn’t depend on how much or how hard I was climbing. 

Well said Fritz. Or at least this rings very true for me. 

Kevin Crumwrote:

In office right now 

I know autumn colors and temperatures are making their home in the land around me.

Something tells me I’m in the wrong place.

I miss the dirt. 

Yup.

I know what my office looks like. There is a whole world out there to explore. 

M K Robertsonwrote:

Aren't folks feeling they are missing out the prime years of their life for personal and professional growth in exchange for something as extemporary and self-centered as climbing full time? What are the value and purpose in that? 

We 8 billion humans are interesting in that we manifest the full range of being self- focussed to other- focussed, and our lives unfold according to our own orientations.  It's just natural and OK that the spectrum exists. There's no need to impose a value judgment about other people's choices that are not harming others. Some people think our blips of human existence have a meaning, others believe one's life journey is essentially meaningless.

I never for a minute wanted a dirt-bag life because I wanted financial security and a range of other activities and experiences. But for those who choose the climbing life and the dirtbag life, why not? Plenty of room in the grand scheme of things for these variations.

Interesting debate. I had a quarter life crisis and hit the road. I wasn't very good at the dirtbag life, but it reaffirmed my love of the outdoors, especially trad climbing in Joshua Tree. It set back my career for a while but I am happy to have had that experience. Now I work for the federal government. I'll say that government can be a good career in terms of work life balance. I don't think about work at all on weekends or after logging off for the day.

I thought that Fred Beckey dirtbag movie was kind of sad. The part when he is looking through a rolodex for phone numbers looking for someone to climb with, and it appears that people are avoiding him. That is the culmination of the lifelong dirtbag dream life? Yikes. 

Colin Rowewrote:

https://youtu.be/qZw_LmmOoyU?si=0ulLGQGwxW2w_UxE

My degree is in biochem, and I'm pretty up to date in the longevity literature. Still don't understand your point, other than a random plug for contemporary food faddism.

But if that gives you purpose, and helps balance "regular" and climbing life, more power to you.

Permabetawrote:

My degree is in biochem, and I'm pretty up to date in the longevity literature. Still don't understand your point, other than a random plug for contemporary food faddism.

But if that gives you purpose, and helps balance "regular" and climbing life, more power to you.

Can you explain what you did understand from the original comment you responded to?  I didn't get it really. 

chris bwrote:

not everybody will choose to have kids, even past thirty. and plenty others don't get the choice even if they want it. no need for (more) senseless moralizing.

Yes, we need to completely disregard all of nature's human instict because it might offend a few people of the modern age. I get it Mr reddit, you can add "morals", while I'm not allowed to?  i have worked with dozens of people who couldn't have kids, and 95% of the time instinct wins and they wish they could of.  Those who can't and do something about it and end up adopting or do something with ibf, surrogates, whatever, seem much happier then those who sit and dwell on something negative. Alternatively, from my experience, those who cant have children are even better parents. adding their positive energy to some child who may have never experienced anything other then the opposite is even more beautiful in my eyes.

Do a personal experiment like I did. Talk to people over 60 who have kids, and don't have kids. Of all fields; climbers, career focused individuals, hedonistic individuals pursuing only self pleasure (me at one point!) and see the difference in how each demographic values their life at the end. Seriously, try it!

I'm a full hypocrite; I wish 23 year old me could read 33 year old me's writings. And 33 year old me will wish I listened to 43 year old me; I wish I listened to my old, cranky 50+ year old male mentors in the beginning more about life than just climbing anchors and equalization and how bolts are bad.

By the way, don't have kids, they ruin life!

;)

Permabetawrote:

My degree is in biochem, and I'm pretty up to date in the longevity literature. Still don't understand your point, other than a random plug for contemporary food faddism.

But if that gives you purpose, and helps balance "regular" and climbing life, more power to you.

Your use of the term 'food faddism' suggests perhaps an unwillingness to consider the research put forward by Ben Bickman critically. Citing your degree fails to give you academic credibility. Rather you appear (not unusual) insightless. 

Colin Rowewrote:

Your use of the term 'food faddism' suggests perhaps an unwillingness to consider the research put forward by Ben Bickman critically. Citing your degree fails to give you academic credibility. Rather you appear (not unusual) insightless. 

I don't know anything about Bickman. I'm just wondering wtf ketosis has do with sense of purpose, and finding balance between climbing/non-climbing.

FTR, there's nothing earth-shattering about studying insulin resistance as a driver of chronic disease - after all, metabolic dysregulation is one of the 12 hallmarks of aging. 

While caloric restriction is the best studied way to promote longevity in model organisms, evidence in humans is extremely limited, and the role ketones play is even more murky. FWIW, there's no long-lived population who follows a ketogenic diet. Quite the contrary, "blue zones" consume a lot of complex carbohydrates (well over half their calories), along with less protein and fat than the Standard American diet.

If you'd like to expand your critical thinking beyond a YouTube video, you may gain some some insight from this recent review on nutrition and longevity. 

Adam Rwrote:

Can you explain what you did understand from the original comment you responded to?  I didn't get it really. 

I've been accused of lacking insight, so I defer to Mr. Rowe to explain himself.

There are people who try rock climbing and there are people who NEED it like oxygen. A life lived in action, the most action possible, is usually the best one.  Whether in the wilderness or in an office probably doesn't matter.

True happiness comes from the action of achieving goals that have some challenge to them.  Climbing, skiing, hiking, at one's limit, provides that.  

(old guy wisdom)

I just finished reading "Royal Robbins" by David Smart and "Survival is not assured" by Geoff Powter. Comparing one's own life to those who have gone before provides a kind of beta and helps me calibrate where I want to go.