Working in psychology, I’ve always been aware that a lot of athletes often don’t like talking openly about seeing and working with a psychologists. And climbing (unfortunately) makes no difference. There’s often still a stigma around it or the fear of judgement… However, learning from first-hand experiences of how much of an impact working with a psychologist can have on you as a person and as a climber is simply invaluable.

Here’s what our athlete Penny wrote about her experience on working on the mental game of climbing:

“[…] I recall thinking in the beginning “will this work?”, especially when I already knew a lot about the things we talked through together, like the reminders that the mind is a muscle, and it takes time to grow this mental strength, etc. However, I always kept an open mind, because I wanted it to work, and wanted so badly to understand my mindset. In just a few sessions she quickly showed me that my attitude towards myself was very negative and this could be a factor restricting my climbing. I, like many other climbers, viewed my climbing very black or white implying my perspective was 'to send' or 'not to send.' I was certainly not examining the grey area, the process in between, and most definitely not rewarding myself for the smaller progression accomplishments.

[…]

After putting these techniques together for some time and quite a few other techniques, that I won't cover in this blog. I can proudly say I have more good days than bad now, and when I do have a bad day, I usually have a pretty good method of flipping the cup to be half full again. By no means is my journey over, it’s just beginning, but I’m finally starting to see myself push the direction of my goal. […]”

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Thank you very much, Penny, for your honesty and sharing your experience! We love it! ❤️