Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking Because The End Is Always Near

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It is always good to keep danger in the back of your mind as you climb. Alpinists face it all the time and to a much greater degree. However, weekend hikers can do face plants as I have done, break bones, like I have done or run into some wildlife. However, there is less chance of catching the new Coronavirus from China when you are out in nature away from people.

“Danger, Danger, Will Robinson”

Some of you don’t remember that quote and some do. It was a computer of sorts talking, but when you hike you do not have any warning for what might happen.

So don’t have an earpiece, listening to music as you climb. Use your ears to hear something before it sees you. It might even be a tree falling toward you in the wind. Save the podcast listening for the treadmill at the gym. Besides, you will miss the singing of the birds.

Snow

If you hike in the snow, be sure to stay away from avalanche areas. Don’t even trust the reports. Just don’t climb there. Too many people have died because of ignorance or testosterone poisoning.

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but if you go in the snow take your Microspikes or at least Yaktracks. They will save you from injury. Sure, I know you young folks have better balance than me, but why take chances?

High Winds

You need to listen so you can hear a tree coming down, but the best way to avoid being crushed is to stay home when there are gale force winds in the mountains. Why push it? Remember, Risk = Danger Times Exposure. You might get away with it once, but be exposed long enough and you might not.

A little wind is good. It blows the stink off of you ad keeps you awake. The sound of it is soothing as well.

The main thing to keep in mind, of course, is that “The End Is Always Near.”

Bookish Weapon Number Thirty

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Dan Carlin has the best podcast on history in the history of the world! Now he has a book. The title of the book is, “The End Is Always Near.” It is not the most uplifting subject you might be able to imagine, but it does hold your attention and is certainly timely with the new Coronavirus from China making the news. Is it a bookish weapon. Sure! It prepares you.

Anything Carlin would write of course would be about history and his point, I believe is that over the course of time the “end” has come again and again to civilizations. Hence it is always near. However, if you think his title is too morbid, he says he had an alternative title which was, “And They All Lived Happily Ever After.”

Scary Chapters

If all I did here was to list the titles of Carlin’s chapters it would be enough to get you to crawl back under the covers. So let’s do that!

Chapter 1 – Do Tough Times Make for Tougher People? (not scary, maybe positive-sounding)
Chapter 2 – Suffer The Children – (we are warming up here)
Chapter 3 – The End Of The World As They Knew It (now we are talking)
Chapter 4 – Judgement at Nineveh (this is not the biblical Jona story)
Chapter 5 – The Barbarian Life Style (interesting – certainly not scary)
Chapter 6 – A Pandemic Prologue (Very timely. I am going back to bed)
Chapter 7 – The Quick And The Dead (crawling back under the covers)
Chapter 8 – The Road To Hell (Can’t get any scarier than this)

Just by scanning the table of contents you get the idea. Pretty thought-provoking material.

Tough Times

Carlin discusses the great depression, the Second World War (which came right after the depression), the Blitz in London where the Germans dropped bombs for eighteen months. Then he talks about nuclear weapons. He speculates if people from the “Greatest Generation” were by percentage tougher than those of today. My guess is that it would be a higher percentage than what Carlin says.

“Perhaps we’re living in a time when toughness in the old sense doesn’t matter as much as it used to. If that is the case, then what advantages might a “softer” society have over a tougher one?” asks Carlin. I don’t think there are any advantages and I doubt Carlin does either.

He discusses how the Spartans, who were known for their toughness became “luxury-loving and corruptible.” If it can happen to the Spartans it can happen to any society.

The Children

It was really tough for children in the past. Even for those of the Great Generation who grew up thinking corporal punishment was ok. Take a look at some of the ways their parents punished them: “whips of all kinds, cat-0-nine-tails, shovels, canes, and Iron and wooden rods.” I knew a girl who’s father would beat her with a horsewhip and a boy who’s father beat him with a razor strap (he was a barber). Of course, my Junior High School Principal had one of those paddles with holes in it that would raise blisters and I had a math teacher that threw me up against the wall. My parents did call the school about that, but only because he tore my shirt.

In prior generations, children were sold, says Carlin. They witnessed torture and violence of all kinds. Mothers didn’t nurse their kids. They had wet nurses do it.

The Ending of Civilizations

The Bronze Age ended quickly and Carlin says historians argue about what happened and how it happened. It could have been a number of things or one thing. Read the book

Nineveh was an ancient city mentioned in the Bible. It was destroyed in spectacular fashion all at once. Carlin says the locals living in the area didn’t even know how it happened.

Carlin discusses the Roman Empire and what happened to them. It was interesting how the Roman legions became more and more germanic.

Plagues

Carlin speculates about how the reformation of the Catholic Church may have been at least partially due to plague deaths, because the plague killed most of the officials in the church so they had to replace them with very young inexperienced men who had no one left to teach them. This then led to all sorts of nastiness.

Carlin says, “We can’t know how many in all died. While estimates put the figure at 75 million, countless out-of-the-way farms and towns and even cities may not have been included in the final toll.”

Atomic Bomb

Then Carlin begins to discuss the bomb. I was born six days after the very first atomic bomb was detonated and one month after I was born the United States dropped one on Japan. It has only been 74 years since then and that is not very long if you consider the scope of history. Carlin wonders how long we can keep a nuclear war from happening.

He recounts the Cuban Missile Crisis and discusses what was said in meetings with Kennedy and his staff. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I recall riding home on the school bus wondering if we were all going to get nuked.

As usual Carlin makes history more interesting by considering the human side of it. Get this book and read it. Then you won’t be so surprised at what might be coming just around the bend.

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This was too easy! How could I resist using Dave Asprey’s book title for a short article about hiking? He does promote exercise in his book!

Everybody that hikes a mountain every week is superhuman. That is just a given. If you go hiking once in a while or only every week when you’re “training for a big climb” you are just normal. But if you have no training goals, and you’re out there every week then you are superhuman!

At The Bottom

There are three times during a hike when I feel superhuman. The first is when I start because I am always a little afraid. It is dark and I am by myself. There are bears to consider and cougars. That is when I take a deep breath and get out of the car feeling superhuman. After all what mere human could face the wild like that?

Even as I start up the trail I feel stronger and stronger. More confident. I adjust to the terrain and begin to focus on my first micro goal.

Half Way

When I reach the halfway point it is almost proof I am superhuman. By now I am feeling very strong. I feel all of the muscles in my legs. The initial aches and pains of the hike have subsided. Now it is a steady superhuman burn.

Ready for the second half of the hike and feeling superhuman, I pick up my pace knowing that I will soon be at my destination.

At The Top

Everybody feels superhuman when they reach the top and are enjoying the view. We don’t always acknowledge it, but we should. It is a real accomplishment.

Actually, if I am completely honest there is only one kind of superhuman when it comes to climbing and that is an Alpinist. They climb the highest mountains with the most technical difficulty. You have to be superhuman to do that.

But wait! Alpinists use ropes. There can really be only one kind of superhuman and that is the rock climber that does not use ropes like Alex Honnold. In fact, maybe there is only one superhuman and that would be Alex.

https://stayonoffense.com/2020/01/25/596/

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty-Nine

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This book entitled “Monastic Wisdom” was written in 1999 by Hugh Feiss, a Benedictine Monk. If you find God and all things spiritual appalling you might want to skip this. However, thinking about and applying this wisdom in your life gives you a powerful weapon for dealing with suffering and malevolence.

As I write this it is Christmas Day 2019. It seemed an appropriate book to discuss on this Christian holy day. As Hugh says in the introduction, the Benedictine tradition “…has something to teach men and women of all walks of life about how to live wisely and joyfully, how to budget time, how to get along together, how to walk gently on the earth.” I would add or hike.

Time

Benedict separates the day into three activities. These are work, prayer, and reading. Well, I have two out of three down. Hugh says the “Rule of Benedict conveys a sense of urgency: one must hasten and run toward the goal of everlasting life. The goal is precious; there is no time to waste getting there.” I sure don’t want to rush things when it comes to death, but maybe he is saying something different.

Laced in and between those primary activities it is important to make time for mutual support and help. We all can take a lesson from that and make time to support one another. Hugh says,” …after God, other persons are the most important realities in our lives. If we are too busy to make time for people who need us, whether they are strangers or neighbors, there is something wrong with our priorities.”

Prayer

If you don’t pray you can skip this, but if you pray even once in a while this is a section of the book worth reading. The first thing that jumped out at me was the statement that “…lack of concentration at prayer is a sign that our minds are too cluttered.” I really need some work in this area.

Then he quotes Monks from the past about prayer. They are lengthy and I suggest that you read the book if interested. Hugh suggests that there are three important things to remember about prayer: that it is a means of “self-offering,” and that it is a part of life. He says, “One brings one’s activities and concerns to times of prayer; one slips short prayers into the intervals that occur in working and walking and weeding. In the end, prayer is about awareness of the divine presence, and that presence is everywhere.”

Reading

He says the first thing to decide is whether you will devote yourself to reading and the second is what to read. As a Benedictine, he suggests the Bible and early church writers. Of course, I would add for regular folks that they should read from all disciplines so that their “map of the world” is closer to the actual territory.

Just to give you an idea from the Rule of Benedict regarding the importance of reading, here is a snippet: “ During Lent, they should each receive a book from the library that they are to read straight through to the end.” And from the Life of Wulfstan, “At Wulfstan’s table, edifying books were read. Silence was rigorously kept so that all might listen attentively. When the meal was over and the eating place quiet, he would explain what had been read in their native tongue, so that he could provide heavenly alms for those to whom he had already served bodily sustenance.”

And here is an admonition to me. It was like it was written just for me. It is from “Mirror For Monks,” by Louis De Blois. “Do not imitate those who follow no order in their reading but are content to read whatever reading chances to come their way. They are interested in nothing except what is new and unheard of. Whatever is familiar and everything old, however useful, bores them. Avoid such instability, for it does not build the spirit but scatters it.” He is describing me to a tee! My only defense is that it is better I read than not read and I know many who do not. Yes, a flimsy excuse.

Silence

There are so many wonderful sections on this subject. Silence was important in Monastic tradition. Hugh says, “The principal enemy of interior and exterior silence for most of us is our tongue.”

There is one quote that stood out for me. It is from Esther De Waal’s “A Life-Giving Way.” She says, “ …When God’s voice is drowned out by incessant clamor, whether inner or outer, in whatever shape or form, then continuous dialogue with God becomes impossible. An inner monologue with myself, constant chatter with others, the invasion of the spoken word through the press or television are all the ever-present realities in my daily life over which I need to exercise some sort of discipline if I am to keep any quiet inner space in which to listen to the Word.”

There is so much more in the book on peace, patience, stability, obedience, authority, longing and love. It is a great resource for wisdom in all these areas.

Go Hiking and Be A Badass

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How can hiking help you become or stay a badass? That’s easy. Do it every week! There are a few exceptional badasses that hike multiple times a week. Usually, they don’t have a job or are independently wealthy. Maybe retired? But what about someone with daily obligations? Well, most of us have at least one day off a week. Do it then.

The reason weekly hiking qualifies you is because of its relatively rare quality. It is hard to get yourself to hike every week especially in all kinds of weather conditions.

Hiking The Burners

Another way to be a badass is to regularly hike the burners. These are the climbs that make your legs scream at you to stop.

When a friend says, have you climbed this or that route and it is “interesting,” they are trying to get you to experience a burner (link).

You Hike No Matter the Weather

You are not badass unless you are out there in all kinds of weather. Rain, snow, wind it doesn’t matter. You do your climb. Now I am not talking about Alpine climbing. Weather is an important consideration in that arena.

I am not an Alpinist nor do I wish to be one. However, I do admire the Alpine badasses out there like Jimmy Chen who makes movies too.

How Do You Know For Sure?

The only way to really know if you are a badass is if someone tells you. This is the test.

Then of course even if someone says you are a badass, remember, someone else thinks you’re a minor league player. Actually, any real Alpinist would look at a weekend hiker as a being in the minor leagues.

Once when I was on my way down from Camp Muir on Rainier an older gentleman was climbing up with his girlfriend and we had a casual conversation. I mentioned I was seventy-something and he said when he was my age he was summiting one of the seven summits. It is kind of like the old west. There is always someone faster on the draw. However, if you want to get faster the only way to do it is, go hiking!

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty-Eight

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Jen Sincerco doesn’t seem to be shy. Her book’s title speaks to that. “You Are A Badass” carries an extroverted punch. Even the subtitle gets you excited to hear more. Look at this, “How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness And Start Living An Awesome Life.” See, it isn’t how to stop doubting yourself. That would be far too timid and shy.

This is a motivational book with lots of good reminders for all of us. As with most decent books it contains stories. The best one in this book is Jen’s.

Risk

Sincerco says she wanted to make money but also get over her fear and hatred of it. So she attended seminars and then hired a coach by running up credit card debt. Seems familiar to me. At least running up the credit card debt. But that is some serious risk-taking.

What would Sincerco say to that? Well, here is a quote, “If you want to live a life you’ve never lived you have to do things you’ve never done.”

All Of Us

We all have a conscious and subconscious mind. The problem is the subconscious mind has no filter. It takes in whatever you expose it to. Think of your brain as a house with no doors or locks and your subconscious as a room in it. Sincerco doesn’t explain it that way. I do. So, what if people were coming into the room in your house without you being aware of it. Then they start whispering in your ear and you start doing what they tell you to. Spooky.

Ok, back to Jen’s take on all this. She says the following:

“Our subconscious mind contains the blueprint for our life. It’s running the show based on the unfiltered information it gathered when we were kids, otherwise known as our “beliefs.”
We are for the most part completely oblivious to these subconscious beliefs the run our lives.
When our conscious minds finally develop and show up for work, no matter how big and highfalutin they grow up to be, they’re still being controlled by the beliefs we’re carrying around in our subconscious minds.”

Jen says that the first step is to become aware of these beliefs. Then later in the book, she goes deeper.

The Universe

Nobody in today’s secular world wants to use the word, God. In fact, Sincerco refers to the “G” word as if it is a profanity. How sad that is. However, she quickly translates “God” to “Universe” and “Source Energy,” and continues. So if you are a believer just translate it back again.

She says, “we are all connected to this limitless power.” Then she says “the Universe is made of source energy. All energy vibrates at a certain frequency. This means you’re vibrating at a certain frequency, and everything you desire and don’t desire, is also vibrating at a certain frequency. Vibration attracts like vibration.” That’s pretty good! She equates low frequency with negativity so we need to increase our vibration frequency. And then she tells us that, “The Universe will match whatever vibration you put out. You can’t fool the Universe.”

Finally, she says, “In order to truly raise your vibration you’ve got to believe the everything you want is available to you. And the best way to keep this belief strong is to stay connected to Source Energy.”

Self Perception

“It is just as easy to believe we’re awesome as it is to believe we are giant sucking things.” So as Chapter 6 says, “Love the One You Is.” No more self-deprecating humor. “Don’t compare yourself to others…Comparison is the fastest way to take all the fun out of life.”

“You are responsible for what you say and do. You are not responsible for whether people freak out about it.” “What other people think about you has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.”

Purpose

Here is one I really liked. “When we share what we were brought here to give, we are in alignment with our highest, most powerful selves.” Not sure what you are here to give. Take some action Jen says because action reveals things that thinking doesn’t.

“Tap into what brings you great joy instead of what you think you need to do to survive.” Great advice!

Thoughts and Beliefs

“Your thoughts and beliefs dictate your reality.” I sure wish I could remember that every second of every day. Whatever it is for you. Whatever your beliefs happen to be here is the truth: “AS LONG AS YOU FEED THE BEAST IT SHALL LIVE.” Capitalization is mine. She continues by emphasizing that you have to change the belief before the evidence will appear.

The more I learn about the brain, especially the subconscious, the more I am convinced of the above. Tony Robbins is big on “limiting beliefs.” He teaches you how to change them. The important thing to remember is to continue to change them and continue to condition yourself.

“Lead With Your Crotch”

Ok, Jen gets a little graphic. That is the title of chapter twelve. She is very funny. However, she makes some excellent points in this chapter.

She tells us to “just see what you can get away with.” I like that. It is a good philosophy for everyone but the criminals in society. Here is a good one, “Don’t just hand your life over to your circumstances like a little wuss. You can take your life wherever you want it to go, so go grab it by its nether regions and make doing the things you love a priority.” Can you imagine being married to a woman like this? That would be intimidating!

I loved this book and there is so much more in it. So go buy it now!