David Given Schwarm

One of the most famous mountain climbers of the last twenty-five years is Joe Simpson, known not for the number of peaks he’s scaled, but for the nightmarish climb gone awry in 1985. As captured in his book (and later the movie)Touching the Void, Simpson shattered his leg on a snowy, storym descent, and fell hundreds of feet, landing on a ledge overlooking the maw of an ice crevasse. Staying where he was seemed untenable, but the only direction he could go was down, lowring himself into the dark, claustrophobic slit of the icy canyon. Getting back out would be impossible. His thought at that juncture: “You gotta keep making decisions. Even if they’re wrong decisions. If you don’t make decisions, you’re stuffed.” Simpson made it off the mountain with all his appendages intact, and you should take a his good advice to heart throughout Week Two. Resist the impulse to sit back and ponder. Keep moving forward.