Let me start off by saying: I'm soooo boooorrred! Doctor's orders to stop climbing for quite some time. I keep thinking I can wing my way into by taking it slow but then things like my finger swell up bad, or my collar bone swell up. The concussion really isn't helping either.

So the hard question is what do you do for fun outside of mountaineering? A friend of mine teased me by saying "there are plenty of fun things to do outside of mountaineering, I just don't know what they are". Web work of course has helped me keep some sanity, but it only takes me so far. Intensive learning is out of the question due to my concussion. Hibernation has helped me with the boredom (more importantly my concussion). If this thread is a success, maybe it can help other climbers who need extra hobbies as well. Also note that I may be bored, but I still don't waste my time with TV.

Learn a skill. Soldering, small electronic repair, a musical instrument, a foreign language, sewing and repair, scuba, all good things to know.
"If you're bored, then you're boring!"

Get a job

I'm in a somewhat similar position. Last year I developed blood clots in one of my legs (deep vein thrombosis, or 'DVT'), found out it was hereditary, and for all practical purposes it looks like I can't do any more extensive hiking, climbing. I used to play a few musical instruments and I've returned to those. I've started back with an acoustic guitar, then got a free baritone ukulele (plays like a four-string guitar, easy to carry around, becoming my favorite instrument), got a used octave mandolin, and got my old clarinet working again. I do miss the backcountry, but I'm looking at this past year as a positive 'transition' period - I had a great 30+ years of climbing/hiking, accomplished a lot of goals (including Aconcagua and Denali), and maybe for me it is time to develop some other interests.

You've go a concussion - wouldn't something invovling concentration (like learning to play a musical instrument) help with that?

Josh, once your rehab is at a point where you aren't tethered to local PT and medical providers, how about getting out of Dodge and getting a complete change of life, not just a hobby change? Maybe Americorps for a year or Peace Corps for two? It will take your mind completely off what you are missing, and get your focus outside yourself. This kind of work is mentally stimulating without requiring massive concentration, which may not be comfortable for you for a year or two. Of course, you would probably need a placement where English is the main language spoken (nothing strains the brain like immersion in a foreign language!). For Americorps, there are very interesting placements all over the US including Alaska/Hawaii. For Peace Corps, somewhere like Saint Lucia, St. Vincent, Fiji, Micronesia, South Africa, Zambia, or Ghana could work (but Peace Corps is a little harder to get into than Americorps). There are some shorter term things along the same lines, like Unite for Sight's teams in Ghana/Cameroon. Or things set up more or less independently--my daughter taught English in a Hanoi high school for a semester, and it was totally rewarding. PM if you want more thoughts/contacts.

Fishing, shooting, motorcycles, photography, sex, surfing, chess in the park, knitting, sewing, woodwork, write a book, jump from an airplane, ..........

Josh, your web pages are filled with inspiring quotes. Your unusual perspective brings challenges, but helps you quickly understand many things others lose track of or never see.  You will find your way in due time.  I'm impressed, yet not surprised, by your continuous honesty and see that it has already garnered you sage advice.

I could share about my own injury and my own challenges, but feel more compelled to share about someone who I was drawn to as a young boy and recently rediscovered.  If you view it through a symbolic lens, I suspect you can find meaning in the advice and story of Billy Mills (beware this clip was once on tv):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfLLNksZmoY[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfLLNksZmoY

He states, "...that one fleeting moment you know you are the very best in the world," but the skills and values he used to produce one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history were far from being put to rest after that moment passed.  Some kids won a state level award when they summarized his life story pretty well:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYl8c7f5zU[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYl8c7f5zU

He also wrote a book on happiness, Lessons of a Lakota: A Young Man's Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding, that is a quick read, but potentially a long and fleeting process for some. Balancing passions, values, strengths, and weaknesses is challenging, but far from boring when ready.
http://www.hayhouse.com/lessons-of-a-lakota

Anyway, I know more books and videos I could recommend from sources on a particular end of the spectrum if you PM me sometime.  You may need to clear your head first and find your own way.

Josh

I have two ideas, but after reading chugach mtn boy's comment; I agree. Leaving town, living in a new environment, especially if completely different (jungle, desert, not in North America) would occupy your mind. As your body heals up some more you could try a new sport, surfing, kayaking, scuba, cliff jumping; likely something not using your finger in the short term. I know a few hard core climbers who gave it all up in Canada to become surfing bums in central America, they never went back to climbing, they surf everyday.

The first ideas that popped into my head was hone and enhance your meteorological and snow stability analysis skills. Both skill sets will increase your ability to safely travel and climb in wilderness mountain areas in the future. Both allow you to send time in the hills, but not with huge commitment or physical effort. You drive out to the mountains, park, wall 10 feet, dig a snow pit, read the snow layers, compare to text books and local avi forecasts and learn to read snow more and more. Similar with meteorological skills, pitch a tent roadside, watch the sky, take observations, compare to local forecasts and examine the effect of local features on precipitation, and snow pack. My suggestion assumes your current understanding is low, but there is always room for improvement with all we do and understand.

Good luck with your recovery and boredom. I have had several periods of inactive due to sport injuries and one or two serious mountaineering accidents. The time will pass and you will be strong again. Often in my case I was counter productive with my rehab since I usually ate and drank too much booze; not recommended since the extra weight is hard to lose.

Take care.

Josh - You're 22, right? You seem like a good kid. If you want my advice, get a job. My little brother is your age and he keeps coming up with ever-more complicated and philosophical reasons for not getting a job. And he's miserable.

A job will give you something to do, hopefully some purpose, and for sure, some money in your pocket. I'm sorry, but your post sounds more like a bored housewife in her 50's than a 22 year old kid with his whole life in front of him. You just need a good old fashioned ass-kicking. It really sounds like you've lost your mojo. Get out there and accomplish something. I'm serious. Worry about hobbies when you're at a point in your life when you're too busy to have time for them --- not the other way around.

One of my favorites, and OH! so true...
http://thechive.com/2014/04/30/mike-row ... -7-photos/

Josh Lewis wrote: Intensive learning is out of the question due to my concussion.

Could you explain this a bit more? "Concussion" is a basket term. If you have brain trauma that inhibits learning, occupational therapy may be in order.

When I was trying to compensate for my brain injury, my home-style occupational therapy became my job. I was kept pretty busy learning a foreign language (mainly to help me regain control of my tongue and voicebox), building pegboards and balance boards, etc. Programming helped a lot, and it is training you can apply later in life.

Can you build a home gym where you can practice some aspects of climbing? A tall tree from which you can hang a rope and practice glacier rescue techniques?

Kayaking, canoeing, and rafting.

If you're still bored by April, you can watch my kids while my wife and I are in St Lucia.

MoapaPk wrote:

Josh Lewis wrote: Intensive learning is out of the question due to my concussion.

Could you explain this a bit more? "Concussion" is a basket term. If you have brain trauma that inhibits learning, occupational therapy may be in order.

pretty much this. my niece was hit by a car and landed on her face after flying through the air about 40 feet. she suffered from (among a host of other things) tbi, and she had to relearn a number of tasks, starting with how to talk, how to walk, etc. i would look into whether or not occupational therapy would be beneficial. one other thing; i would not push the limit cognitively. brain injuries can be exacerbated and recovery time slowed by too much activity.

If you can move around a bit I´d totally recommend surfing. Will definitely keep your shoulders and back in shape for when you get back into climbing, besides working your cardio and being fun and relaxing.

Photography? Can be in the wilderness, or if that's still too taxing go explore the city. Or some more elaborate photo arts: try some "light graffiti", or kite photography, or perhaps using a drone, experiment with time lapse ... etc.

Oh and cycling is always nice, provided your surroundings are suited for that?

Scuba diving, especially the more advanced kind involving technical skills and equipment for deep diving and/or overhead environments (underwater cave exploration, wreck penetration), has some of the same attractions as mountaineering. It requires knowledge, training, physical ability, mental discipline and presence of mind, and the ability to assess and manage potentailly life threatening risk and to overcome fear. There is lots of specialized gear. At the cutting edge it allows an opportunity for true exploration, going places where few (or no) people have ever been. I'm pretty sure fewer people have pulled china out of the dining room on the Andrea Doria, or been to the end of the line at Eagles Nest cave system, than have summited Mt. Everest, for example. I have a number of friends that enjoy both sports as well as some who used to be fanatical climbers who are now fanatical divers. There's fantastic (albeit cold water) diving off the coast of Washington, BC, and Alaska.

Scuba diving does put some stress on your body, especially if you are doing technical dives which require you to jump off the boat with 2+ times your weight in gear strapped to you. With your injuries you'd want to get a doctor's clearance before diving. Once you are under water however, if you master bouyancy control and body position in the water column it can be a very low stress sport, and in fact can take stress off injured parts of your body (e.g., your spine) since you are weightless in the water. Last summer I went diving with someone who one month before had gotten spinal fusion surgery on her T9-T12 vertebrae. I had to help her in and out of the water but once in the water you'd never know she had spine problems. If you aren't pushing the envelope, hovering over a tropical reef that looks like an aquarium full of pretty fish (or playing with an octopus or sea lions in a kelp forest in the cooler Northern Pacific) is every bit as beautiful and relaxing as an easy hike in a high mountain meadow, and looking down over a 5000' underwater wall that drops into the blue can be just as cool as when you are on a vertical wall in the mountains.