Fight, flight or freeze

Today I worked with John and Erica again, and we focused on typical responses to anxiety provoking situations and how to deal with them.  We saw a classic example of a flight response on a route in the quarries, where a climber began rushing some moves, ended up scrabbling with his feet and very nearly came off.  It was easy (from the ground!) to see the anxiety building as he over-geared, leaving little room for precious handholds, hesitated (freeze) and then went for it, but rushed through without thinking out the sequence and being precise with the feet. 

Fight responses are also quite common, usually in the form of "come on, dont be such a wimp, get on with it!", overgripping, grunting and grimacing.  People may have a usual response, or the response may vary according to the situation.  In fact all these responses are appropriate at the right time - pausing to work out moves is fine (freeze), encouraging yourself when you know you can do something is fine (fight), and backing off something thats too hard for you is also fine (flight).  However, doing the right thing at the right time is crucial!  Try to identify what you typically do when under pressure, and try to do something deliberately different.  If you are a fighter, try breathing into your arms and relaxing your face - no point wasting valuable energy.  If you are a freezer, use the opportunity to look around for alternative holds, mark them out with chalk dabs, and then commit to the moves.  If you are a flight person, deliberately slow things down, focusing on the sensations in your feet.  Practise this on easy ground first until it become second nature, and then when you are going for it, ask your belayer to remind you to do whatever it is you need to do, at the crucial moment.