Know your limits
So simple. Yet so complicated. It rolls off the tongue quite easily, but when applied to the extreme sports that many of us call hobbies it’s a different story.
Sometimes pushing past your personal envelope can be a very gratifying experience. Staring at a challenge head on, recognizing that it will test you, both mentally and physically, believing in yourself, your abilities, and your gear, and totally nailing it. Feels great! You pushed past the discomfort and fear, finding yourself the victor on the other side of the line.
However, there is a dark side to this beast. Sometimes you take on a challenge outside of your skill level and abilities, only to find out the hard way that you may have pushed just a little too far.
The outcome of pushing too far can be a variety of things: a close call, a few cuts and bruises, or in the worst case, even death.
Not all sports are as forgiving as others. I happen to participate in a sport that can have some truly harsh consequences for complacency and over-estimating your abilities on any given day.
That said, for some reason many athletes find it necessary to measure themselves with the latest hero who posted their five minutes of fame on YouTube. The attraction is not only because of the hard work they put into planning and preparing for a stunt (or lack thereof), or that they chose to raise the bar on a given day just because the cameras were watching, but more frequently because these few are truly pushing the envelope. These stunt junkies are showing the rest of us what is possible. I don’t think this is a bad thing as those of us who dream of being the best at something can surely relate. However, this challenge to our ego has a tendency to encourage the use of shortcuts. These shortcuts, when combined with a lack of patience as well as a constant battle with the inner critic, can be a recipe for disaster.
I recently attended the second annual World BASE Race. This new style of competition involves the rapidly growing sport of wingsuit BASE jumping. The rules and format are very simple. Two parachutists jump from a cliff at the same time and fly their wingsuits over a “virtual” finish line. The winner advances until there are only two jumpers left, first and second place. The experience and skill level varied greatly between the athletes. Some of the competitors had 25+ years of BASE jumping experience under their belt, while others only a few years.
The motto of the race was “Know your Limits”. I found this saying to be incredibly appropriate for the activity of BASE jumping, and was challenged on numerous occasions to take a long hard look at my personal limits, and whether at that moment, on that day, I wanted to test them.
To keep your personal limits in perspective is a difficult thing. I’ve always been proud of the fact that I like to get out of my comfort zone and each day do something more challenging than the day before. This past August has shown me that there are times when you have to take a long hard look at where you are, and where you want to be.
Neil Amonson
