Sometimes We Simply Need To Drop The Ropes

While many of us were braving winter storms this weekend, Alex Honnold was climbing the 1,667-foot skyscraper Taipei 101 in Taiwan, setting a record for the biggest urban free solo climb in history.

He scaled up the outside of the building without ropes or safety nets. For 1 hour, 31 minutes, and 34 seconds, Honnold clung to and climbed the outside of one of the tallest buildings in the world, knowing full well that any slip would surely be a final slip.

Oh, and all while it was streaming live on Netflix.

I found the picture below fascinating. A man inside the building photographing Honnold while he was climbing outside. What was the photographer thinking?

What did he see?

Did he see a superhuman, or a human doing super things?

Did he see a man too crazy to know the risks of climbing without ropes, or a man who'd become so sure of what he was capable of that he no longer needed ropes?

Did he wonder at all what he might be capable of if he'd let go of his need for safety and take a few more risks of his own in life?

I wonder all of these things about the photographer because these are some of the things I wondered about myself when watching highlights of the climb yesterday.

I don't think we're all supposed to go climb skyscrapers without ropes (most of us probably shouldn't even attempt it WITH ropes). But I think it's always worth considering what ropes we're still clinging to that might be worth dropping. What are we taking pictures of that we could be doing instead? How much of our lives have we turned over to being in awe in exchange for not creating awe?

I love watching other humans do what looks like superhuman things. It leaves me wondering how much super I'm leaving untapped inside this human.

We're not all meant to climb buildings, but I think we're all capable of climbing a little bit more than we currently climb. By all means, keep photographing and celebrating the humans around you, just don't forget to climb all that you are made to climb.