A Broken Talus and Growth

The pitfall of trying to start blogging and writing is that there is no rhythm to it. This means it's been over a month since my last post. I'll get better.

Last Saturday I was out in Unaweep Canyon, Colorado bouldering with my sister and some friends. It was a perfect day with 5 hours of climbing and hanging out. I had just got new climbing shoes too, so I was super stoked to get out and climb a lot...even more stoked than I normally am.

After about 4 1/2 hours of bouldering, we found this awesome vertical face. It was beautiful. Small holds, really delicate movement, and a potential first ascent. It was glorious.


We worked for an hour on this boulder and on one of the last tries of the day, just as the sun was setting, my foot slipped off this dime-sized ledge, and needless to say, I fell.

It was a good thing my friends had already left because their 18-month old daughter did not need to hear the things I said while they resonated off the canyon walls. My sister Kristi drove us to the ER back in Grand Junction. I left my climbing shoe on to reduce the swelling and by the time we got there, my foot was not only in pain, but was also asleep, which was a new combination of sensations for me.

To save some time, the ER doctor inevitably told me I had a broken talus bone and sent a guy named RJ to set my splint. I thought RJ and I could be friends, but when he started moving my ankle, the idea that we could be friends was over. I'm pretty sure setting my ankle for the splint was more painful than the breaking and spraining of my foot to begin with.

And while I knew this in theory, I was reminded that in order to grow, whether in one's talus bone or in life, there has to be pain. The main character in a story is never the same as he/she was at the beginning of the story because they go through some kind of suffering. And that suffering could be internal as they deal with a breakup or divorce or death of a loved one, or it could be external as Bruce Willis tries to save the city once again from German terrorists.

But whatever it is, we need suffering in this way don't we? We actually need some kind of pain in order to grow as people. I know this is true and it's hard because I'd rather be out climbing or hiking today than sitting in a coffee shop with my foot throbbing, but perhaps this is the means by which I am able to grow...it couldn't happen any other way.