inner strength

New page. New story.

The plan for Sunday was to hike, meet up with friends, and spend the day in nature. We left our house around 9 am, it already being late and with a two-hour drive ahead of us we decided to stop for breakfast on the way. The choice for breakfast fell on something quick and calorie-dense. We stopped at the bagel shop “Olde World Bagels & Deli” in Colorado Springs. We ended up getting two breakfast sandwiches, two coffees, and a bag of bagels with cream cheese on the side. The coffee got us bouncing off the walls (in a good way), which made the hour-thirty drive go back quickly. When I drive and Andrius is in the passenger seat, he always informs me of fun facts and what is interesting around the area that we are driving by. This time topics were unique: the Cheyenne Mountain and how it’s made out of granite, the Air Force base, and the number of prisons located in Fremont County (there are 11 by the way, 4 of them are federal).

Finally, we made it to the destination in Canon City. The mission was to find our friends, and the only thing we had from them was the location pin that they sent to us last night. We parked the car and started our search. For you to better understand what the location looked like, imagine a parking lot, one dirt road that leads somewhere deep into the forest, and a lot of people climbing the rocks. We got onto the dirt road and started walking. As I mentioned earlier, the plan was to hike, so I treated this “search” as a proper hike in my head. The dirt road had a couple of trailhead accesses, we pick the trail that looked semi-decent and got on it. After forty minutes of walking around of the base of the rock, and passing multiple groups of people, we did not find what we were looking for. The decision was to go back to the car, eat breakfast, drink some water, and figure out what to do next. I kind of forgot to mention that we barely had any service there. It would have been way easier to call them and ask for their current location.

As we were sitting in the parking lot, contemplating our lives, we received a message with directions to their location. Thirty minutes later we successfully located the correct group of people and the fun began. Andrius has been climbing in the gym for a couple of years now, and this day was about to be his first time climbing outside and with the rope. I thought I will be nervous watching him climb the 40-foot rock, but actually, it was fascinating. The human body is capable of performing many difficult tasks, and climbing the rock is one of them. He finished his climb, and other people started going. I watched people climb the same path maybe six more times, and suddenly I got the feeling that I want to try too. Bear in mind, I don’t have climbing shoes or a harness. I asked one of the girls if I can borrow her harness, and thankfully she said yes.

I felt determined and focused, and the main thing - I didn’t feel scared. I was on a mission. Recently, I have been struggling with experiencing a completely opposite spectrum of emotions. I believe the situation I was in and the adrenaline pumping through my veins flipped the switch and made me feel brave.

Here I was, wearing hiking boots, with no experience, climbing a 40-foot rock. My inner voice was quiet… zero self-doubt, zero fear. All I remember thinking “there is a rock and I want to get on top of it, and there is nothing that can stop me”. I never imagined that this Sunday adventure will open my eyes to climbing and wakes up my inner warrior. I have always known that I am incredibly strong and that there is nothing in this world I cannot do, but depression made me believe the lies my brain told me. By climbing the rock I proved to myself that I am a warrior.