{"id":959,"date":"2021-08-25T08:37:57","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T12:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=959"},"modified":"2021-08-25T08:37:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T12:37:57","slug":"your-next-difficult-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/25\/your-next-difficult-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Next Difficult Situation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There\u2019s a reason it\u2019s called Thank God Ledge.

By the time rock climbers have scaled most of Yosemite\u2019s massive geological feature called Half Dome, the narrow ledge near the top is a welcome relief.

Before the 20th<\/sup> century it didn\u2019t seem possible that anyone could go straight up the granite face.  Three climbers \u2013 working together and using all the latest mountaineering equipment \u2013 accomplished the feat in 1957.  It took them five days.

Things have changed since then.  In 2008, a young climber named Alex Honnold did a \u201cfree solo\u201d of Half Dome\u2019s face.  He had no ropes, no partners, and no safety net \u2013 just his bare hands.  Four years later he did it again in a mere one hour and 22 minutes. 

That\u2019s Alex in the picture above, standing on Thank God Ledge \u2013 an iconic photo that appeared on the cover of National Geographic<\/em> and defined a new era of extreme climbing.

Long after establishing his reputation as “Alexander the Great,” Honnold dreamed of doing the ultimate free solo:  scaling the 3,000-foot fa\u00e7ade of Yosemite\u2019s other granite monolith, El Capitan. 

Think of climbing, unaccompanied and with absolutely no room for error, a slick rock face as tall as the Empire State Building \u2013 and then add another Empire State Building on top of that, and for good measure an additional 50-story building.  When Honnold announced his intention to do what no one else in the world thought possible, his friends feared for his safety and his sanity.

Indeed, there appears to be something missing in Alex Honnold\u2019s brain.  You\u2019re probably thinking, \u201cYeah, like maybe the whole thing.\u201d 

In 2016, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans revealed that his amygdala \u2013 long recognized as the \u201cprimitive\u201d part of the brain that can register fear in less than a tenth of a second \u2013 barely indicated anxiety as he watched disturbing, get-me-out-of-here images. 

Honnold admits that he feels anxious from time to time.  But never for very long.  He has coached himself not to freak out. 

Does he ever feel a surge of adrenaline?  \u201cIf I ever experience that,\u201d he says, \u201csomething has gone seriously wrong.\u201d 

On June 3, 2017, Alex set out from the base of El Capitan.  His climb was documented by cameras (some of them on drones).  The footage ultimately became Free Solo<\/em>, an Academy Award-winning documentary that creates far more anxiety in most viewers than the guy pressing his fingers into tiny granite seams thousands of feet above the ground. 

Honnold knew in advance that his do-or-die moment (literally) would come about two-thirds of the way up the face.  Climbers call it the Boulder Problem.  That\u2019s a rather understated label \u2013 a bit like calling the loss of your entire net worth the Cash Flow Problem.  Even those with ropes and spikes hold their breath when they run out of footholds and handholds and have to shift their bodies about six feet to the left in order to find safety.  Honnold spent months practicing a \u201ckarate kick\u201d maneuver in which he extends his left leg as fully as possible to stick the horizontal landing. You can watch him address the Boulder Problem here<\/a>. 

Yes, he makes it.  But as you can see in the reaction of his film crew, it was a white-knuckle moment for more than just Alex. 

Honnold conquered El Capitan in a mind-blowing 3 hours and 56 minutes.  It\u2019s possible that no one will ever attempt such a climb again.   

In order to succeed at his extreme craft, it\u2019s a good thing Alex rarely experiences fear.  But on the whole it\u2019s crucial that the rest of us do.  Fear is an internal warning siren that danger is lurking, and we had better do something about it.

Author and pastor John Ortberg wrote an entire book about the account in Matthew 14 where Jesus walks on water in the midst of a howling gale on the Sea of Galilee, whereupon Peter asks Jesus to command him to join him out on the waves.  Ortberg\u2019s 15-word title neatly states his thesis:  If You Want to Walk on Water You\u2019ve Got to Get Out of the Boat<\/em>. 

Fear may be a natural human response to real concerns.  But sometimes it becomes attached to things that really shouldn\u2019t trigger anxiety.  That\u2019s when fear becomes worry.

\u201cWorry,\u201d writes Ortberg, \u201cis fear that has unpacked its bags and signed a long-term lease.\u201d

Even if you\u2019re not a rock climber, you experience drama almost every day.  It happens every time you face a difficult situation.  Do you stare it down and decide to take action, or shrink away and hide?  Either way, you\u2019re developing a habit \u2013 one that will be reinforced every time you confront the next <\/em>difficult situation. 

It\u2019s unlikely you\u2019ll have to face the Boulder Problem today.  But you may need to confront the In-Law Problem.  Or the Self-Confidence Problem.  Or the Workplace Ethics Problem. 

If you push your fears aside and choose to take action instead of procrastinating, you\u2019ll experience what Ortberg describes as a surge of joy.  You did the hard thing.  And now you can imagine doing it the next time.  \u201cBut when you wimp out by refusing to take the difficult step or saying the hard word \u2013 you die a little.\u201d

Whatever habits we develop will be intimately connected with our life with God.

Bad theology has generated its share of heretics over the centuries.  But fear has created many more, since it tempts us to conclude that God probably isn\u2019t big enough or strong enough or close enough to get us out of whatever mess we\u2019re facing.

A few years ago, Alex Honnold co-authored a book about his own climbing exploits.  It\u2019s called Alone on the Wall<\/em>.  Aloneness is what defines free soloing.

But aloneness is the antithesis<\/em> of the experience of every follower of Jesus.

Whatever you are facing today, you are not alone<\/em>. 

Which means that even before you reach the security of the next ledge, you can sigh, \u201cThank God.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a reason it\u2019s called Thank God Ledge. By the time rock climbers have scaled most of Yosemite\u2019s massive geological feature called Half Dome, the narrow ledge near the top is a welcome relief. Before the 20th century it didn\u2019t seem possible that anyone could go straight up the granite face.  Three climbers \u2013 working together and using all the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[205,296],"class_list":["post-959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fear","tag-worry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":961,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions\/961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}