In September I spent a weekend climbing in Västervik with my friends from Germany.
The highlight of the year was off course the trip to the US with Said. There where many great experiences in cool places, and altough I climbed like shit, I still managed to drag my ass up some really awesome routes.
I've put down some goals for myself for next year. It's been a while since I had those so it's about time, and I'm really looking forward to working towards achieving them. I'm hoping to travel a bit more, maybe go back across the Atlantic. But I also want to do more climbing around Stockholm and Uppsala (on rock that is). The few times I made it out since I moved there, I always spotted climbs that I really want to get on.
Standing on top of Castleton tower was one of many great experiences from the autumn adventure in the US.
I always have a hard time dealing with how fast time is moving and I have to be careful not to put too much presure on myself to make things happen instantly. I think that having a strong will is a good quality, but focused in the wrong way it can be rather destructive. I'm constantly trying to be better at deciding where to focus my efforts to benefit from them, instead of letting my obstinacy make me counterproductive. A year ago I was actually not really sure if I wanted to do as much climbing any more. I could not enjoy it as my approach since several years, being way to focused on performance, had taken all the fun out of it. After getting that perspective and realizing that things had to change if I wanted to keep climbing, I started making some changes. This has by no means been easy, but seing how I seem to enjoy climbing more and more again, there is no doubts that I'm on the right track.
Bouldering with friends (and colleagues) in Orminge outside Stockholm.
Happy new year!
/DO
