How to stop caring what people think at the climbing gym? a video essay 

So well done Anna! As someone who also feels held hostage by a war in my head, this was really amazing to relate to. You’re wonderful and your channel is making climbing a better space ❤

The REALLY tough step is to stop worrying about what ONESELF thinks about one's own performance.

You made me tear up both for myself and for you. I am afraid to fall off the V2's at our gym because I think the other climbers will laugh at me, which means I'm not getting any better, which makes me sad. I'm going tonight and I'm going to try and be brave and fall off something...x Your vulnerability inspires others to be brave. 😊

Thank you for this video, it had me crying in places. I am a person who will climb with anyone and everyone in the gym and is generally not affected by others being there or not, but it breaks my heart whenever someone doesn't want to join the group on the new set because they are worried about all the "good" climbers judging them. I wish there was something more I could do other than just general encouragement. I hope this video reaches and helps at least a few people get over their fears of doing the sport we all love with others.

Being a “strong” climber is hard. Being a strong person is exponentially harder. Your videos are wonderful to watch because you are in them. In life, All you can do is your best. That’s what I see when I watch you. Keep being your beautiful self and thank you for being Anna.

As a fellow woman who climbs, this is so spot on. Thank you for this video.

As a 56 year old male, with less than a year of bouldering experience in a gym, I found this video to be very interesting and thought provoking. Good on you for sharing your thoughts and experience in coping with anxiety and negative thoughts/emotions in the climbing world. Now, if only I had your strength to hang from a bar while casually talking about my pit hairs so effortlessly..... Your videos are wonderful and have been very inspiring for me, so thank you, and keep being you.

I appreciate you SO MUCH.... the past year, I've fallen more into the pressures of the rat race...wanting to be BETTER, to be more SUCCESSFUL, to be RECOGNIZED in my pursuits. There's such a pressure towards perfectionism these days, literally in EVERYTHING you're doing (career, body image/self presentation, social media goal$$, blah blah) and it takes away from the FUN OF LIFE. Going to the climbing gym is FUN and trying problems that are weird or beyond you should still be FUN. Getting trapped in the "I-should-be-better, I-should've-sent-that, my-shoulders-are-too-big, people-are-judging-me" cycle of thoughts is easy to do, but sooooo isolating, and keeping you from potentially connecting with those around you and yourself. "I-can't-make-eye-contact-with-them-because-blah-blah-blah". Really working on breaking out of these games! Who gives a fuck if you're good or bad if you're having a great time at the gym and gaining something through it. Priorities of perfectionism are twisting everything around, and I'm so refreshed and delighted to hear you speaking against it. Omg this is a long youtube comment that I am embarrassed by my sincerity of, but holy shit y'all, have I been thinking about this a lot. Thanks Anna! Keep it up! -a fellow broad shouldered, hairy armpit goofball climber

Excellent video. I'm 60 yrs old and only been back into climbing for 4 yrs. I used to climb pretty hard stuff when I was in my late teens and early twenties but a fatal accident stopped me in my tracks.I feel very conscious of my lack of skill now compared to all those years ago. I feel in my head that people are thinking he can't climb any more. But it's me at 60 comparing myself to me at 20 yrs old.

Although I don't personally experience this matter, being acquainted with individuals who share these very emotions has truly moved me on an emotional level

The bit about secondary emotions creating a loop of negative feedback hit so good. It's easy to write off your feelings on the wall as some inherent aspect of your personality that you just have to power through when really its just your mind running wild. A little introspection in those moments can go a long way, thank you so much for a much needed reminder that I don't have to be held hostage by my thoughts.

I'm probably not your typical content viewer, but as a 60 year old, white CIS male, yours is my favorite climbing related internet content. Everything you discussed here makes you so relatable to someone who started climbing at 50, struggles with shoulder injuries and wrist tendonitis, and stutters a bit & has (luckily pretty mild) tourettes. So it's pretty inspiring to see you acknowledge the same myriad of mental struggles of climbing I have and overcoming them. I'm still working on a lot of it, but I have a lot of climbing left in me to improve.

Hi ! I'm the someone on the other end that really needed to hear it. Thank you so much

This video is so refreshing, honestly your presence, your videos and your mindset are really inspiring and very much needed in this word !! I just wanna say thank you !

GLOWING!! Love the energy and clarity that putting all this together does. THANK YOU XXX

As someone who struggles with self confidence and a general sense of self, this really resonated with me. Your openness about your insecurities and your drive to overcome them is truly an inspiration - Thank you.

I've only been watching your content for a couple of months now, but you've always given me the impression of being the most "real" climbing creator that I watch, and I enjoy all your content just that bit more because of it. I think positive apathy is a great mentality to have in lots of places in life, and I try to apply it wherever possible myself. You've given great reasons why it works for things like climbing, too, and I'm glad to hear of all your progress towards a happier way of living - I hope it continues for years to come ^^

Your constant messaging through the channel of being comfortable in yourself and your presentation meant the world to me as an early transition woman who was scared of going to the gym for the exact same reasons - overdevelopment of muscles, body hair concerns, boys club vibes. Seeing you doing what you do and living your life and being absolutely gorgeous and amazing doing it helped me get out of my head and enjoy climbing in a way that would have been so much harder for me otherwise. Literally 10,000 thank yous :) you and this channel are the best

What a beautiful love letter to yourself, highlighting the good you bring to the climbing world. You set a great example for others, including me

this made me cry so much haha - seeing someone like you be afraid and “struggle” at times was so refreshing to see. thank you for this ❤

Anna, you said a lot of critical things for climbing. Thank you! And your editing is world class!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

You're such a huge inspiration to me. When you share your anxiety and fears and self-consciousness I can relate. Your words resonate with me and seeing you put your training out there in public, on camera, is so SO very impactful to me and others like me. While I may never have the confidence to go in front of a camera, your story is teaching me how to treat my time on the wall and training for my joy, for my experience. Thank you for always being kind and tenacious and giving climbers like us a voice.

Really appreciate you choosing to make a video like this, lots to think about.

You are by far one of the most relatable and welcoming climbers on RU-vid and you’ve been so amazing in your mindset and even inspire me to not care about what people think in climbing and in life 🥹🌈❤️. Keep on slaying!

I'm crying. Needed to hear this. Thank you so much.

Very cool and lived out list. I also like the idea of being radically vulnerable - i.e. that we can self-empower by owning and showing our bad days or times we're afraid or even those days when we're not psyched. I think filming yourself for RU-vid is one way you do this, and you do a great job at it!

Anna, this video was great and I think it's completely applicable to just life in general outside of climbing. You're definitely one of my biggest inspirations as a new climber. Thanks for being awesome.

Fantastic video that I cannot believe I took 3 months to see!!! I relate so heavily to this, and I'm so glad there are folks in the community giving it the spotlight it deserves. Well done, and you're a true inspiration!

This is the video I didn't know I needed. As someone who's been struggling to get back into climbing after injuries and other issues, this had me in tears. Thank you so much ❤

Honesty is the best inspiration. Thank you for your enthusiasm and the inspiration you are ever so generous with! May you always try more times than you fail!

Hey Anna, loved the video and how you showed us some tips for being kind to ourselves! And for making this for yourself too 🙂 Thanks for being an awesome role model out there!

It is so nice to hear about your fears, your feelings and what is hard for you. From the videos, you always looks so brave, fighting and keep at it untill you succeed. It's amazing to see all that and it is also amazing to see about the hard part. What ever you do, I will always be so happy to watch your new adventures. And it is great that you are doing your climbing in your own way. You don't need to be validated by anyone!!! And no one has the right to validate you or not.

I am particularly grateful for this video. I've been going through it for a while and struggle with social anxiety and have self worth issues. This could just be a channel about climbing and I'd be diggity down and still watch every upload. This video is really special and inspiring.

Great video Anna!!! those are life lessons for sure. Thank you for your courage and wisdom

Oh Anna, that was such a nice video.We never actually see these problems at others so of cause every body thinks "it's just me". That's why it is so important to talk more these challenges for your mental. Everybody has to face them (some more, some less) and it is much easier to face them knowing that overcoming your mental challenges is as hard as the moves on the wall.

Love this, and one of the things I love about following your content is how human you are! The mental health aspect is so critical to growth as a person, outside of progression as a climber, and sometimes it's easy for me to forget to be a human first.

Love love love, Anna. I hope you know just how inspiring you are as a climber and a person.

i usually don't like inspirational videos like this but dammmn you got me good! loved the entire video and all the thoughts in it

great video! your becoming my favourite climbing channel

wow this is a spot on video. Cool to see awesome creators talking about the less discussed perspectives 🙏

This is precious, I'm taking notes. Thanks Anna

Thank you for your time in making this content, Ive been climbing for forty years now and in all that time I have constantly lived with social anxiety and faced the fear in my head. When I started climbing there were no indoor climbing walls anywhere near me so I had the chance to escape to small crags and quarries to find solitude and be by myself. As the years rolled by and indoor climbing walls popped up I had a real dichotomy of knowing that safe indoor specific training especially during winter would help push my climbing grades and make me stronger coupled with how on earth could I walk in the door and be in an area surrounded by people most of them younger than me who looked great and were climbing really well, I really struggled. I had many days and nights of driving to the wall and sitting outside in the van for a couple of hours at times scared to leave that safe space and enter inside gripped by fear having made the experience into an insurmountable barrier that I thought no one else would feel or understand, how wrong I was. As the years rolled by I gradually came to realise that most climbers and people in general all have some sort of fear or anxiety and most can switch off and hide or mask it well enough to let them carry on with their everyday life, we might not see it but its real and what changed for me was making a promise to myself that when I walked into the wall I would have to talk to two people on every occasion before I would start climbing, a kind of forced therapy which wasnt easy and it came with lots of awkward staring at feet and mumbling and scratching of heads but through time I came to see that the majority of climbers just didnt care, they were so focussed on themselves and making the most of their short time at the wall that they were not interested in me or my climbing or what grades I was pushing or what colour my Troll Omni pants were this week, it just didnt matter, it never had but I just couldnt see it. Talking to climbers for me and opening up about my fears is the thing that has seen my biggest progression and made me a better climber, Iam coming to the end of my climbing times now but for those new to the scene or for the young folks who are gripped by fear when walking into the wall then all I would say is talk, be honest and talk to those around you and you will be surprised by not only how normal you are but by how many people will be supportive of where you are at. Happy climbing.

Hey Anna, that list is bang on. I really enjoy watching your vlogs. You are a really fun, likeable climber with so much heart, so I hope this reinforces what you know to be true. Some people put up walls to avoid getting hurt, others wear masks, you are honest and welcoming.

I have been always horribly anxious when taking tests. The debilitating anxiety was killing me. Finally I came up with a phrase that helps me and others in similar high pressure situations: "Five minutes of shame and your experience becomes a permanent history". Everything passes. Nothing is forever. We all struggle. Good people understand it and will try to support you. Always.

Thank you much for making your videos, they speak to me so deeply and really help me to understand myself and to overcome these fears to progress.

Thank you Anna, I think most people can relate to this in one way or another, and you can be really proud of yourself. I enjoy your content a lot. Keep going and keep developing yourself your doing great👍

I will never forget when my clinical psychology professor told us that even when we feel very watched and socially anxious, literally no one else cares about you because they are too self absorbed! I struggle with judging my own performance (and thus feeling self conscious) because of how much stronger I was in the past...I realize I have to overcome that or it takes away from the enjoyment of climbing.

"Everything in nature grows only when it's vulnerable " you're growing 🌱 be kind to yourself 💖

This is fantastic. Not only are you discussing a really important topic, you are eloquent and thoughtful about it, and the video is exciting and interesting. This really helped me and will help so many others. Thank you for doing what you do :-)

I definitely needed to hear this. The last couple of weeks I've had to psych myself up to go to the gym because it felt terrible failing on easy climbs alone. This video actually made me feel better so I'll be going in for the first time in 4 days

The beauty of this video about climbing is that it’s not about climbing. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful post Anna :)

Anna, you never cease to prove yourself as a representation of the best there is in our community, and we are all truly grateful for it. Your commitment to sharing your humanity through your climbing and to remind everyone that they too are welcome into our beautiful sport is reassuring and inspiring. Keep up the amazing work, love from Portugal 🌱

Anna! By being personal and vulnerable you just contributed to making the world a better place. Thank you! ❤

Wow!! Thank you so much for this video ! I didn't know I needed this but I really did. I have so much social anxiety and it always stops me from improving because I'm too scared to fail especially when people are watching. But I love climbing and I will do everything do keep going. This video gives me hope that I can change my perspective!

Beautifully put together ❤ Thanks for sharing, super inspiring!

Amazing video essay Anna! Hats off to you and thank you for sharing ❤❤

you made me cry by this beautiful & emotionful video. Thank you so much for sharing your insights and progress with social anxiety. You are truly inspiring Anna

Thank you for that video. Every honest voice, revealing the struggle behind the scenes is always bringing value to society. I have been climbing for almost 3 years, and at the beginning could not do even the simplest route. The biggest obstacle for me was to overcome shame. This one is still blocking me a lot at the bouldering part, less on the rope. So I mostly climb with rope but struggle a lot with fear of falling, trusting gears, and belayer. And each time I make a step forward, I come back to the same point where I still can not let go and fall above the clip, or with a lot of slack. This also makes me not improve how I would like to, and I am always scared that the climbing community will reject me for that.

such a wonderful, thoughtful, honest, vulnerable video. thank you for sharing it with us! you are my biggest role model in the youtube climbing scene!

I am seriously going to bookmark this and play it before every crag and gym session now. I watched this for the first time after a particularly terrible kilter board session last night, I was feeling so terrible and down on myself - and it was like a virtual hug. Thank you so much for sharing and reminding all of us that it is totally ok to be human, mess up, and sometimes flail around on what we think we "should" be able to easily do.

Under the facade of ego and destructive thinking we are all naturally confident beings it's the ego that keeps us in this self contained bubble of suffering. As a climber myself I ask myself who am I performing for, complete with your own potential , focus on being in the present moment. I think you are an inspiration to many Anna 💛

very inspiring, I echo everything in this video. U did amazing job Anna! One sentence I would like to share with the community "Real strength is having the courage to admit one's weaknesses". Cheers!

Your comments about self-expectations dominating your climbing (and life) mindset ring really true for me. I've climbed for so long that I have a performance baseline, where if I can't always meet that with ease, even when I'm out of shape or haven't climbed for an extended period of time, then I'm not doing a good job, and I should be ashamed of myself. It's a hard mentality to break. Soon, I'm going to start climbing after a year-long break, and my goal is to have low expectations while not holding myself back. Thanks for sharing your story. It's always nice to not feel alone on the wall.

Thanks a lot Anna! It‘s good to know, that I am not the only one with this huge problem! My fear of not being good enough and all the thoughts about what other people think about me and all the other negative feelings hold me back to be a better climber. I always try to work on my mindset, but it‘s hard. One step ahead and two steps back. Often I loose the fun of climbing because of all these struggles.

Spot on! Love your message and especially how you said it. I think most climbers will cheer for you if you get a route that you've struggled on. Beating your own expectations and overcoming mental blockades is awesome. If you give it your all on a V2 and finally get it that gets me as hyped as seeing someone struggling and sending a V6.

As a girl with social anxiety and depression, I can relate so bad. I've recently developed this weird habbit of climbing right under the top hold and then jumping down over and over - as if climbing it the way I did wasn't good enough or done properly. It was caused by a combination of fear of failure and pure self-sabotage. But then I watched videos of girl climbers, such as Janja, and decided to just try and see what happens. The day I made this decision, I finished several boulders that were quite difficult for me. :) And guess what, it turned out that the constant repetition of these challenging routes eventually improved my technique. The same way every person is built differently in terms of height, joints and muscles, we are different in the ways our minds work, but mindset is what matters :)

I'm 26, and I've been climbing on and off for the last couple of years, this year being the most consistent I've been with it. And besides sometimes lacking money or time to do it (being a student and working at the same time), the things you mention are THE BIGGEST issues that keep me from climbing. Whenever I start I get so ashamed if I don't progress as fast as I think I should, or if I don't stay at the climbing gym for as long as others (I usually keep it around 2 hours because, heck, I get tired) or because of anxiety of others watching me or trying to help me. And this not trying because "what if my best is not good enough" is a thought that has haunted me for years. Like I said, this year I've been more consistent with it, working through all these fears and trying to be gentle with myself. Thanks for making this video ♥

Wow, you are not only very good at showing your emotions, but also putting them into words people will understand! You do You Anna! Be happy, be sad, nervous, whatever! You'll live life to the fullest, no matter what😀

That was a great Video Anna, thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts!

I really enjoyed this video, thanks for making it. Helps remind me I'm not alone in it.

That’s a beautiful, thought provoking and insightful film, thank you, and something I can really resonate with. Thank you 💚

this was so beautiful. thank you for posting this!

Thanks for making such a positive impact on the climbing community. ❤

Definitely needed to hear this, thank you so much Anna ❤

A very touching and wise piece. Thanks for the work to make this one happen-all the work, from the beginning. We the community need to hear and process this. Strong work.

Thank you for sharing this list ❤ as someone who has had anxiety stagnate all aspects of my life, this list is really helpful in terms of ensuring I don't put a redicilous amount of pressure on myself

The reason I watch your videos (and have now subbed) is because you always seem to find the fun in a situation, even if it's some outrageously scary trad thing. "The best climber is the one having the most fun" - Alex Lowe.

Really like this video Anna. Great message and a needed one.

Thank you for this wonderful video ❤ You are such an inspiration!

Thank you so much, really needed to hear that❤

very inspirational! great content. so well said! you are a beautiful soul

Thank you for sharing, Anna ❤

what a great video Anna, thank you for this ~

I had a really bad climbing session today... I needed this, thank you

Thank you so much for this. This is so important and not only in the climbing world

First video I see from you, and I feel you sooo much. I don't know you, but I feel like I really do. Our minds think alike, our fears are the same (in regards to this issue at least), and so to see you succeed in what you want to do is amazing and really inspiring, not just in words...I'm crying right now. I have so many fears blocking me, especially when it comes to "judgment", and I prefered to exclude myself from society years ago...but now I feel I am missing out, that this time will never come back and I am not using it fully because of fears and projections. We are all just humans, whatever it means...and I love to see your humanity here. Seeing the wall of mean comments you got made me so upset, sad and angry, those are the things I am terrified of. I'd put too much value on them and cry every night...and to see you just flashing them in this video, like exorcising them, touched me a lot. Yours is an amazing and powerful journey, thank you for sharing it. Thank you for being human. A hug from a "haired pits" sister.

Great video Anna!

Really valuable points and good reminders! Particularly struggle with these feelings when climbing alone at the gym, easier with friends. One helpful thing that I have found, when climbing with trusted friends with whom we have good communication and connection, is to ask them what they thought of a particular attempt or move or whether they saw/thought something similar to what I might have just experienced on the wall. Eliminates the guessing of "I wonder what they are thinking about me" when you ask them directly. Usually it does not reflect the struggling thoughts I had on the wall, and I think that that often makes my next attempt more free or more fun

thank you so much for this. im a young female competition climber who has dealt with self-sabotage in... every area, but especially climbing, particularly because i can't stop comparing myself to others. i've been injured and have stopped climbing for almost nine months, but im going back tomorrow-- it was like a miracle that this video popped up today! i am going to do my best to not compare my journey to other peole's journeys, because it is my journey and my journey alone. thank you. you're an inspiration to me!

This video is something else. It' s so relatable I teared up. I have always been really self-conscious about my climbing and what other think of me and what I do. It got even worse when I become climbing instructor and expected of myself even more -to be at a certain level at all time. I put so much pressure on myself, it took the whole joy of climbing; it blocked me (psychologically) from finishing my projects. Finally, I decided to put away the "instructor" part for few years and just focus on climbing and re-finding my passion for it. Now I start to see that when I let go and just focus on moves (not the goal, not my fears) some weird magic happens and I finish my routes, easily; plus I enjoy the process.

Awwww! That’s amazing! I struggle with these problems almost everywhere except in climbing. (Maybe because I’m not really ambitious about climbing.) I’ll apply your lessons to everything else!

I love this video so much! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this ❤

This is such a good video, really spot on. I still haven't gotten the nerves to go to a climbing gym for the first time, yet.

You're a lovely person before being a climber, RU-vidr, friend, role model and many other roles you may play. It's easy to get absorbed in what we think we want but first and foremost, we are completely imperfect humans finding our way in this crazy world. I hope to see more of your channel in the future!❤

01:22 "What if I tried my best and still sucked" is a brilliant wording for that intrusive thought!

I loved this video! You are right - no-one cares. Some people might have passing negative thoughts, but they aren't people I want to know or care about. I have found that most of the time, people are on your side. Lots of times when I am struggling on a project, people will join in and cheer you on. Most climbers are supportive and the few that aren't aren't worth taking up your head-space.

This was more heart-warming than I expected it to be. I'm touched, thank you for the video, Anna.

As someone who doesn’t really fit in with gender norms, it’s hard to feel like I’m not being judged by others who climb and that I have to work harder to prove that I am worthy of being at the gym. This was so beautifully said, thank you Anna

Thank you so much for this video, I really needed this right now. I am autistic and suffer from really bad social anxiety. A few months ago, my partner (re-)discovered his love for bouldering and was really excited to introduce me to it. But my fears prevent me from trying new things, sadly they are very stubborn and I refused to come to the gym. But I know how much it means to him and I am also at a point where I can’t let my life be controlled by my fear anymore. So we had a little climbing date and I really enjoyed it. My boyfriend did some research to find the calmest gym and when there are the least people, he did everything to make the day as positive of an experience as possible and I am really thankfull. But I am also really proud of my self for overcoming my fear and taking a little step in the right direction! This video came at the exact right time, a lot of your experiences resonate with me and it really moved me. After watching some of your videos I am really looking forward to my next time climbing!

You are awesome and inspiring, thank you for sharing your journey!