When I was in middle school, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a lot of different activities. I was a terrible athlete, but guitar and theater featured prominently in my adolescent life. In seventh grade, I was invited to a birthday party at a climbing gym. I went, I climbed, I had a great time… and that was it. It wasn’t love at first sight, it didn’t make a lasting impression on me, I didn’t beg my parents to take me climbing again. I have almost no memory of the event except that I wasn’t very good, which was unsurprising.
Some interests stuck longer than others. I did theater throughout high school and college, and even had a few jobs in the industry, but knew that it wasn’t something I wanted to spend my life doing. I poured myself into my guitar, and after years of playing in solitude, somehow convinced myself that I should pursue a career as a musician, which would come to be perhaps the most demoralizing decision of my adult life. I had achieved a high level of technical mastery of my instrument, and had written hours of material that I thought was great stuff, but nobody else ever seemed to take any interest in what I was doing.
Towards the end of my college career, the most obvious career path for me to follow was in education technology and information science, as I had had a number of jobs in the industry, and was for a time a prominent member of the Wikimedia community. However, I already felt that interest starting to wane, and would end up graduating without a job, feeling totally disillusioned about my life choices up to that point. My experiences with traditional office jobs had left a sour taste in my mouth, but I didn’t know what else I could do to earn a living.
During my last year of college, my brother brought me to a climbing gym while we were home for Thanksgiving. This time, I got bit hard by the climbing bug. A few months later, a friend convinced me to buy a Groupon deal for a nearby climbing gym. Having already been hooked, I immediately started climbing three days a week, and unlike all other athletic activities I have pursued, I felt a natural affinity for the sport, and improved rapidly.
Some months later, I walked into the gym on a quiet morning and saw a guy swinging around on ropes, pulling holds off the wall and putting up new routes. I was entranced. I wandered over and awkwardly blurted out, “Hi. Can I help?” We had never met before, but he was kind enough to explain that if I wanted to try routesetting, I should contact the head routesetter. So I did. I bugged him over and over again until he let me set some boulder problems. He made it clear that the first time you set is essentially an audition. If your stuff is good, you’ll keep setting. If not, that’s it. The next time the boulder was being reset, I was not invited back. Well, shit.
A few months later, I took a floor staff job at the gym ($8.50 an hour, yikes!), and during my training, I saw the head setter putting up new boulder problems by himself. I walked over and asked if he needed help. To my surprise and sheer delight, he said yes. I must have done something right, because from then on, the tables turned from me needing to bug him about setting, to him asking me to set regularly. Like my approach to music, I made a conscious effort to do things differently from the other setters. Unlike my music, I actually got positive feedback on my work, and lots of it. It was a thrilling experience, it was creative redemption, and I was getting paid for it! I felt like a rock star.
I have now worked at the gym for over a year, and have seen my hours, wages, responsibilities, and breadth of knowledge steadily increase, though I have always needed to supplement my income with other jobs – some fun, some not. That changed last week when the final piece of the climbing puzzle slid into place: I was promoted to Assistant Manager of the gym. Salary. Benefits. Quit my other job. While there were some dark times along the way, within two years a hobby turned into a sustainable career, all while avoiding the rat race. It feels like I just won the game of life.
I wanted to share this story because I hope people who are feeling dissatisfied will find some message to take away from it, though I’m not sure what that message will be. Maybe this tells us to be willing to try things twice, even if the first time was unexceptional. Maybe this validates the cliche “Do what you love and the money will come.” Maybe this will remind those who are already established in their industries to keep an open mind when some enthusiastic, inexperienced weirdo walks in looking for work. I don’t know. I just hope this gives some reader the confidence to keep going when times seem tough.
