While I may have dreaded the seemingly inevitable dangers and terrors that lurked behind every wall and up every route last month, now that I have finally made it back to the rock wall, I am happy to say that my concerns were completely unfounded. Actually, I disagree (with myself, apparently); my concerns, though exaggerated, were legitimate (but I am still happy to say it). Every injury, even one so minuscule as my thumb, should be taken seriously (I mean, not serious enough to go to a real doctor, but serious enough to whine a lot), and unlike Corbin Bleu, I had no intention to "push it, push it to the limit, limit."
Last month, when Maddy and Hannah invited me rock climbing with them after a 2 month or so hiatus, I was absolutely terrified. I was pretty much recovered from my thumb injury, but since I had never been given a go ahead from a doctor (mostly due to the fact that I never saw a real doctor), I was worried about how climbing again would affect my thumb. Rather than just Jump In (more Corbin Bleu references, anyone?), I decided to wait just a little bit longer (but also unlike Corbin Bleu, I didn't decide to spend that time practicing my double dutch skills). About a fortnight later, a couple people from my kickball team invited me to go climbing with them, and I figured that then was as good of a time as ever to try my hand at rock climbing again (yay for hand-themed idioms!).
The first night back was a little rough. Not only was I climbing in front of people I have never climbed in front of before (causing the self-conscious part of my brain to kick into overdrive), but I kept worrying that with every hold, I was breaking my thumb more and more (note: I never actually had it confirmed that my thumb had a fracture to begin with... it was only conjectured after looking a fuzzy x-ray). Also, it had been so long since I had been on a wall (or fallen off a wall) that it took me a while before I was comfortable with heights again (well, as comfortable as I used to be, which isn't saying much). Bouldering was especially embarrassing, as I would get scared and step down from basically every route I tried (and yes, I say "step" rather than "jump" or "fall" because I was usually still close enough to the ground to calmly step down (ha! calmly... that's a good one)).
Since then, though, I've gotten my climbing confidence back and I'm actually somehow less afraid of bouldering routes than I used to be (I even jumped down from the top of each route I finished last night rather than slowly climbing down as I'd been apt to do before). Even better, my thumb is feeling way better than I imagined it would! Since climbing again, it's been popping and aching much less than it had in the previous couple months. Jeff says that it's because I'm starting to work it out again. I say that it's because it has been a few months and time heals all. Regardless of the reason, I'm just pleased that I don't have to worry so much now (hopefully).
If I have had little to no issue with my thumb thus far since restarting climbing, should I call myself healed or should I still keep an eye out for trouble? Is Double Dutch really that difficult or impressive as Corbin Bleu makes it appear in his movie Jump In? Are my completely nonsensical and mostly Disney Channel Original Movie themed asides starting to get obnoxious?
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