This is entry to Indiblogger The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest . It is not related to money but is about how rock-climbing experience put me on the path of starting my website and my blog.

“No way I am going up there!” I was standing at the bottom of a BIG ROCK which I was expected to climb, It was a sheer rock! I glanced straight up the rock and felt so small and incapable.  I was never going to lug myself up that rock. Any sane person could see it was impossible. Then I looked back, embarrassed, toward the 10-year old girl who’d just scaled the rock effortlessly. She was almost my size. She was my daughter and was looking at me expectantly with that look that nothing is impossible! I thought I was going to pass out just from fear of embarrassment!

How could I tell her I was just not into  sports or such physical activity? As a kid I was the studious kind, one who sat at the corner watching T.V or reading a book. Playing games like running and catching or cricket or badminton was what I managed when forced by my parents. When we wanted to get some mangoes from Mr Sharma’s garden in summer, I was always the kid who couldn’t make it up the climbing wall. I’d watch all the other kids scurry up to the top with ease. But when it was my turn, I’d thrust my hand up and struggle to pull the rest of my weight along with me. “I don’t like mangoes” sounded a dumb excuse even to my ears!

Cave exploration at 11:00 in the night was what I could just handle. All this was part of the trip to Anthargange in Kolar District some 80 kms from Bangalore. Trip highlights were: Night cave exploration, Camping , Bonfire, Rock climbing and Abseiling or Rappelling. I agreed to this trip because of my kids. They wanted to stay in the tent, inspired by what they had read about in storybooks. When we came to know of this trip they got excited. There was no way out and I wanted to burn those books!

Cave exploration in the night

“Remember Tom Cruise”, screamed my daughter. The scene from Mission Impossible-2 flashed before my eyes. Tom Cruise hangs perilously from a rock by his fingertips, the mere slip of a finger bringing about a terrifying plunge to death. “Right words(Mission Impossible), Wrong example”.I whispered (Recently when we saw Tom Cruise climbing Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible 4 my daughter looked at me with a look..next this :-))

Tom Cruise and Mission Impossible

If my daughter could do it, so could I, right? No it didn’t feel right! Sure it was a challenge, but wasn’t that the point? On went the safety belt. I hurled myself up as hard as I could.  It took four attempts, but I let my determination take over. Bam! I was off the ground! I grasped upward, trying to yank the rest of me along as well. My guide suggested “Use legs more, and focus the hands on just holding on”. And when I stepped up, I actually went somewhere! It was only up from there, metaphorically as well as physically. I was amazed as I started to climb how many little crevices and handholds were  there on the rock. As I ascended, I would pause, uncertain about where to go next. The guide would point out the best route and help me get my footing. Once I was under I could see where I was going next, “Climbing with your eyes,” the guide called it.

I scrambled up the rock and didn’t realize I was out of breath until I was clinging to the top with nowhere else to go. I thought I’d never be able to do it, and then I looked down and realized I had. My head was just screaming “Hurrah! It wasn’t impossible, like I thought.” My daughter was waving “Good job” Then the panic set in It looked a lot higher from the top! “How would I go down?” The guide reassured me and helped me get back down with ease.

Being lowered back down seemed to take longer than the climb itself. The rock just kept going and going, and I was amazed I’d gotten so high and hadn’t even realized it. Nails break. That sense of accomplishment Right! Some pictures of my daughter during rock climbing and rappeling. I was so scared and worked up that my family forgot to take my pictures!

Rock climbing

Trying something new always comes with a sense of accomplishment. I might have wobbled all the way  I also wobbled through the finish line.  Nerve-racking at first. But also exciting, really exciting. Few things that I learnt:

• The decision to climb was tougher than the actual climb
• Before I  decided to climb it seemed impossible, but once I decided, really decided I soon saw ways of doing it.  Guide, my family, other people in the group gave the encouragement.
• Once I started up, I could you see more than one way to the top! For the most part, one choice looked better than the others but several times there were equal alternatives, so I’d try to look beyond to see what might be ahead. All the way to the top I tried to see my next move.

“Isn’t it interesting how simply making a decision lets us see how to do it? guide asked. “You’re right about that,” I said . “As long as I was assessing the risk reward ratio I couldn’t see anything but sheer rock. I mean, smooth and flat. But once I made the decision, I found myself going to the top using footholds that weren’t much more than scratches on the rock face. Bumps on the rock that were either ludicrously small or couldn’t be seen at all before I started up began to look real good when I was high on the rock and clinging. Most amazing! When you can’t go back down, almost anything can be used to get onto the top. And I didn’t slip” I said , still thrilled at the memory of what I had done. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t half as tough as I thought it would be, Just like in life. “Isn’t that great “, I said looking at my daughter. “Have you wanted to do something and did not do it because you didn’t decide?” asked my daughter innocently. It made me think..think hard.

I can understand the frustrations of people trying to get a fix on making a firm commitment before knowing exactly how it’s going to work. Some people never make it big because they take crazy risks ,but most fail because they don’t take any risks at all.  Once you make a decision your mind becomes focused on where you are going. All of sudden you can see the route or atleast the next foothold to climb!

That day the rock climbing experience taught me many lessons foremost being decision making or goal setting. I decided Better to be dead in a messy macho heap at the bottom than alive as a wimp, I could not let me daughter down. I always wanted to write a book on making kids aware of money but there was that hitch – what if no one publishes it, no one reads it! That day I decided to start on the book. Soon sent my first chapter to my family and friends for review. My mother, my brother-in-law Manoj and my friend Manisha said it was good but needed an editor(Articles-the,a,an confuse me!). My friend Richa volunteered to edit the book. Once book was ready I sent to few publishers but got no response. Then read somewhere  give it as e-book and for authenticity it should be be from one own’s domain, so decided to make a website.  Launched the website bemoneyaware.com.  A request to a personal finance blogger Manshu of onemint.com who I had been following from few years (but had never interacted) resulted in him recommending it to his readers. To increase the traffic to my website started blogging at bemoneyaware.com/blog. Stumbled upon indiblogger(had read an interview of another personal finance blogger Capitalmind‘s Deepak Shenoy at blogadda.com, searched the net, found indiblogger) Wrote few blog posts, got some readers. Thanks to Sujatha, Saru, Arti, Seema, Indu, Deepak, Debajyoti, Christy, Harsha, Farida, other indibloggers, my friends(Mona, Nidhi, Gunjan, Shubha, Kavya, Ritu-who have to listen about and at-times read my blog posts) and my family! The process similar to rock climbing is on but I am off the ground!

Well climb is far from over and looking for the next foothold to climb, thinking of starting money awareness classes. They say Journey of the thousand miles begin with first step, Well begun is half done, As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come but I know there are miles to go before I sleep.(Some Quotes on Beginning). I may not even reach the top but well I have the satisfaction of knowing atleast I tried, I am trying! I can look at my daughter with head held high. This would not have been possible without the experience of rock climbing that day.  Spending time in nature rejuvenates us and makes us better than before. Spend some time in nature, spend time with your family and follow your dreams. You never know where it will take you!

The book “Be Money aware ” aimed at teaching young adults about basics of money such as Bank, Cheque, Plastic Cards, Earning, Spending or the individual chapters can be downloaded from here.