Thoughtful Thursday Launch: How many types of fun are there?...Beyond Types 1 and 2...
As people plod down from a climb, there's often discussion about “Types of Fun” and where the day's particular climbing experience fits into that scheme. The popular notion is as follows:
“Type 1 Fun” is fun that's fun while you're doing it--Bolt clipping on a sunny day on a route with reggae music playing down below or similar. “Type 2 Fun” is fun that is physically/mentally/emotionally challenging at the time—there may be no laughs had at that moment—but it is recognized as a good time once in the shower, at the bar, or sitting in the office next Tuesday perusing #techtuesday clips.
In guiding, I've got plodding time like America's got obesity, so over time I've begun to think about that binary system and wonder whether there might both be some extension to the types of fun out there and perhaps some nuance within the current binary system. Instagram has a 2200 character limit, so I'll focus today on one extension: Type 3 Fun.
Type 3 Fun is an experience that brings a recharacterization of fun and/or the experience and/or the purpose of climbing: A realization that not everything in life has to be fun to valuable and that there is much more to a rich life than simply having fun.
What Type 3 Fun experiences have you had? What other Types of Fun are out there in the Fun Taxonomy?
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If you've read this far, you're definitely the target audience! TTH is meant as a counterweight (but not a criticism of) the oh-so-popular Tech Tuesday posts out in the climbing world. An attempt to bring some mind into the muscle. If all we can bring back from the mountains and share are ideas about anchors and load distribution, then we're missing something. Something important. I know climbing can offer more. I've felt it in my life and I bet you’ve felt it in yours. I’m not putting out a post every week and I’m not suggesting you should either. But I'll use those days to share personally evocative thoughts I’ve experienced climbing. I hope you will as well! Let's climb higher, together.