Conquering Angel’s Landing

May's Fridge Philosophy is a journey of challenge, resilience, and growth

Note: Since 2018, I have placed these short quotes on our refrigerator at home to provide subtle hints for successful, thoughtful, and purposeful practices in hopes my teens would internalize them. Along the way, I found them helpful in my own life.

The view is glorious. The work to walk up the West Rim Trail at Zion National Park in Utah is rigorous, with a 1300-foot elevation gain in only two miles. This trail includes numerous switchbacks, a steep grade, and high elevation. Just reaching this point in the hike is an accomplishment.

Then, you look to your right, and see the “chains portion” of the hike to Angel’s Landing. This final half mile offers even more stunning views at a price. On either side are sheer cliff faces with only a chain to assist in keeping you from waiting four seconds to die. You have to obtain a permit to make this trek, and as you reach the ranger to provide the proper documentation, you realize you have a test of will ahead.

With each step up the rock face, you understand that stopping and turning back is pointless. Keep moving forward. Look for that next step or that next ledge. At various stages, you look around, gaining confidence with every step and the knowledge that you’ve come this far. Finally, you reach the top and the view is worth the effort and risk. There is accomplishment and value in reaching that spot, sitting on the rock, and looking down. I did it. I can it again.

Recently, I took my son, who had graduated from college only three days before, to Zion National Park. I wanted to take his mind away from studies for a few days and give him an experience worthy of his own educational milestone. Over the course of three days, we challenged ourselves to have experiences that were outside our comfort zone. We pushed toward Angel’s Landing. We hiked up a river in waders and boots. We took in the views that we couldn’t get anywhere else in the world.

As my son and I stood up on top of Angel’s Landing, we reveled in the accomplishment. We had done it. We had faced fear and pushed it aside. And while we weren’t going to base jump into the Valley, there was an innate confidence we felt.

Research consistently shows that overcoming adversity leads to confidence, resilience, and a growth mindset. The more experience we have with facing an issue and dealing with it, the more we are able to handle similar problems in the future.

“Resilience is a person’s ability to bounce back from adversity and grow from the challenge, and research now shows that past adversity can help you persevere in the face of current stress,” wrote Paula Davis-Laack, CEO of the Stress and Resilience Institute, wrote in the Forbes article How Adversity Makes You Stronger. With the proper mindset, adversity can reframe stress as a challenge. Instead of fear, a growth mindset can find focus. “The result is enhanced concentration, peak performance, and more confidence. In fact, people who are able to think about stress more like a challenge and less like a threat report less depression and anxiety, higher levels of energy, work performance, and life satisfaction.”

Now, there is real anxiety in the world. People struggle with their mental health, and just reframing challenges with a mindset shift isn’t a miracle cure. Yet, building resilience can assist in treatment. Research by the National Institute of Health showed that the ways doctors discussed treatments with patients could improve mindset and the effects of the treatment. “Instilling a growth mindset in patients about their belief in the capacity to change is an important precursor to health and healing.”

In order to grow into the people we want to be, we must seek opportunities that push us into discomfort, test our limits, and allow us to learn and grow from them. It is the act of attempting the challenge that provides the value. The first time attempting an unknown task is the hardest because we are unsure of the outcome. Once we’ve done it once, we want to try again. That’s why many may seek to run a marathon, but don’t just do one. Running becomes part of who they are. That’s why an author may embrace the challenge of writing a novel, finish it, and continue to write. It’s why people fall in love with a challenge, because we can move beyond a box of our own limitations toward something greater.

The purpose of this trip to Zion was to move my son away from the intense study he had performed in the last four years, challenge us in other ways, and come away feeling invigorated and confident about facing the mental and physical obstacles that life brings our way. We left with a new desire to explore more national parks, seek more of nature’s beauty, and find ways to recapture that physical and mental challenge that Angel’s Landing brought us.

What challenges have you faced head-on that made you more resilient?