I’m not going to lie, the news of the last weeks have left me a bit paralysed. Who would have ever thought of a war to start so close to us, in Europe? I’ve been getting a lot of messages from people via all different media channels who have also found it hard to deal with the current situation. A lot feel bad to go climbing, knowing that there are friends out there, so close, fighting a war. Others find it hard to focus on their every day life, already feeling exhausted after two years of a pandemic, two years of uncertainty, and now a war? I’ve received messages of people whose batteries feel empty, exhausted, unable to cope with anything else. Or athletes who are insecure about what will happen next, how it will impact their career, their annual plan, their goals.

And what can I say. All of these worries and fears are normal in a situation like this. There’s only as much we can cope with. But with that said, it’s also important to look out for ourselves to better cope with the current situation. So here are a few tips of what you might find helpful with everything going on.

If you have any other tips of what has been helpful for you, let us know in the comments below!

🌻 Set boundaries! Detaching, focusing on what’s important right now in your life and setting boundaries, doesn’t mean you don’t care about what happens to other people or what’s happening in the world. It’s normal that this can affect us, that it makes us feel sad, shocked or touched. But we should differentiate between compassion and sympathy. We shouldn’t suffer for people in war, but feel compassionate with them. That’s how we can show solidarity without losing ourselves in it.

🌻 Focus on what’s in your control! What we cannot control at the moment is how long this crisis will last, other people’s actions and decisions, why they do what they do, how other people react, predicting the future, etc. I know this might sound scary, however, focusing on what’s not in our control will only make us feel worse and more helpless. Instead, if we focus instead of what’s in our control, we can gain back a sense of self-efficacy. What we can focus on right now – and what is in our control – is e.g. limiting our (Social) Media consumption, doing things that we like doing, that help us take our mind off and make us feel better, donating money or supplies (if possible), spending time with people we love, setting boundaries, etc. Can you think of anything else what’s in your control that might be helpful right now?

This technique of focusing on what’s in your control can also be wonderfully applied onto your climbing!

E.g. in competitions if we focus on what’s not in our control – e.g. how a route is set, what the weather conditions are like, how strong our competitors are, etc. – we are most likely to feel more nervous. Instead, if we can focus on ourselves and what’s in our control, we will realise that we will a lot lighter, resilient… and just better overall!

🌻 Talk about what’s worrying you with a friend, family member or a professional, but make sure you’re not dwelling in it, nor talking in a negative spiral. If you want to talk to a professional – whether that’s to improve your mental health, stop dwelling on things or just to lift your mindset in climbing – we have your back! We do free 30min calls up front for our 1:1 mental coachings in which you can get to know us, how we work and how we can support you.

🌻 Doing regular meditations to better switch off and calm your mind can be really helpful. Whenever we feel like we loose ourselves in a negative thought spiral, focusing on our breathing, taking several deep breaths, can help to be present with our mind.

Once again, this technique can be really helpful in climbing too. Whenever we feel distressed in climbing (e.g. fear of falling, pressure in competitions, etc.), using our breathing to calm down and be more present is one of the most powerful somatic strategies.

🌻 It’s ok to feel bad and to experience negative emotions like anger, sadness, frustration, helplessness, fear, etc. Learning to accept these emotions as something normal instead of pushing them away is a first, essential step to better deal with it. By accepting also these negative emotions, they lose their power over us.

🌻 We can only help others, if we look out for ourselves. That’s neither selfish nor means you don’t care. But how can you help others if your own batteries are empty?

🌻 Spend time around people that make you feel better. ❤️

🌻 Last but not least, having talked to many people, it seems like a lot of them are currently afraid of many “what if’s?”. What can help is to mentally prepare for all of these “what if’s”, thinking about answers for yourself. This doesn’t mean that any of these “what if’s” would actually happen. But it means that we are prepared for if they are, we’d know what to do in that case.

Once again, this strategy is very well applicable for our climbing, too. Finding answers for our “what if’s” for when we are stressed out in a competition or when we are afraid of falling, etc. can be really helpful in order to stay calm in the moment when these what if’s actually happen. If we already think about them in advance, they feel less stressful in the moment because we’ve already thought about a solution in advance.

Have you found these tips helpful? Let us know in the comments below.

Please note: We condemn any kind of war and violence. For anyone being directly affected and traumatised by the current events, please don’t hesitate to reach out for professional help. There are emergency psychologists especially trained to support you!