The Wall is Never to High to Climb
What a day it was, a cool 92° on a moist July evening. With every step another drop of that homemade, custom, salty water traveled down the side of my cheek to its final destination, the New York City pavement. I would have wiped it off but my hands were busy at the moment, two brown paper bags interlaced between my fingers, filled to the brim with fresh and frozen produce. Nine blocks and an avenue sat between me and the refrigerator, I embarked on this farmers carry as if were standard procedures, because it kinda was, a routine fridge restock, rain, shine, wind or snow, it had to get done.
To make this trip through the man-made brick sauna (or NYC in July) even better, I had the luxury of being decked out in a full suit, after a jam packed day of customer meetings in corporate America. If you didn’t read-in-between the lines, I’ll flat out say it, I’m not a big fan of suits. It was the thought of getting changed, rather than the heavy bags or outdoor steam room, that actually propelled my feet to move faster. Finally I arrived, through the hallways right up to my hefty beige door, the bags met the floor and my hand ventured into my pockets for the keys to internal bliss my apartment. Here’s a little poem on what happened next:
One pocket,
Two pocket,
Three pocket,
four.
I have No keys to open my door…..
Fuck!
Traveling in earlier in from a weekend at my moms, I instantly knew where my keys were, the vision of them sitting “pronounced” on the counter top was clear as day, unfortunately that was 100 miles away. OK, just a minor setback right? I’ll scurry on over to the renting office and pick up the extra set I keep there, for these very moments, I had to hurry or the frozen peas weren’t gonna make it! Keys in hand I ventured back over to my door, they felt a tad light, I haven’t seen ’em since handing them over about three years earlier, for someone who lost wallets and and cell phones like Trump losing consciousnesses during a tweet storm , it was somewhat of proud moment thinking how I haven’t had to use them till now, Until…
Yep, back to the drawing board, the keys in hand worked but my Key-to-Lock ratio was off. See, I had succeeded in unlocking the bottom lock but the key to the deadbolt was conveniently missing. At this point I might as well start eating the peas, they’d probably be a nice slushy snack to get the problem solving neurons firing. Options – call a locksmith or explore the windows, specifically the one unlocked window, I’d just have to scale a 15ft flat brick wall, Big Whoop. A ladder would’ve be ideal, but the office wasn’t open to helping me execute this B&E (Breaking and Entering), so it was either scale the wall or drill the lock. Let’s get climbing…
To paint the picture, I was on the first floor but had to travel down to the courtyard (more like a brick dungeon) to access the wall, literally nothing above or to the side to climb up on, just a window looking down 15ft to a dude in a in suit and oxfords. When I mentioned dungeon before, I meant it. This apartment complex was built in 1908, the courtyard led into an underground cavern, which linked two full blocks of apartments, running from 64th to 65th street. After a quick test, I came to the conclusion that running and propelling up the wall “ninja warrior style” wasn’t in the cards today, so venturing through the underground caverns in search of items to climb it was. About an hour into this conundrum, I had a feeling it was just beginning.
Concrete slabs, buckets, brooms, bench press (with no weights) – what a wonderland for junk. After traveling this underground junkyard to the edge of being lost, I found a folding chair (from the 80’s) and a broken cooler. Here lied my go-to-market strategy to break in. Stacked up against the wall the items gave me about 6ft, my body gave me another 6ft (7ft counting my arms stretched overhead), I had to make up a delta of two. As I balanced atop this leaning tower of idiocy, I gave a quick wave to the quorum of neighbors who were now gathered at the mail room window, watching a man in a suit break into an apartment. It was go-time, a leap was in my future, a few knee pumps and off I went. As I stretched through the air my tower crumbled beneath me, I made contact with the debris-filled window ledge, one hand latched on and as the second arrived, its landing zone wasn’t as pleasant, a sharp rock. In a natural reaction, the downward force letup and the hand slid off, the other quickly followed suit, look out below. Landing in dress shoes is a skill I just didn’t posses, but somehow, someway I managed to get down in one piece, right next to the metal spears created from a dismantled chair. I was cut, but still standing, and in need of a new chair.
Back out of the dungeons with a new chair, this one wooden, less sturdy and most likely from the 60’s. The leaning tower of idiocy shall rise again. My light blue shirt was now a tie-dye mix of blood, sweat and dirt, great fashion ideas come at the best times dont they? The mail room crowd grew and the pressure mounted, “Do it for the Peas, Dammit”! Once again, I leapt up and successfully landed both hands, the chair and cooler went flying (as is tradition) as I pulled my elbows up onto the ledge. Gaining balance, I ripped the ad-hoc screen out, throwing it to meet the broken cooler and chair below. I pried open the window with my palm against the glass and dove through. Head first, but victorious, now lets go eat some god damn Peas.
One Small Climb for Man , One Giant Leap for…. Finding your Path to Success
Somehow through the midst of all that I didn’t get the cops called on me – not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Looking back now, diving through that window was a small victory but the lessons it encompassed were anything but. Rarely, will you find a day where everything goes according to plan, there are so many variables at play it’s simply impossible to predict. I’d say it’s pretty much a guarantee that “shit will hit the fan” in some way (or form) at least once a week. How you Identify, Frame and React will make the difference not only in the short term, but for the long. Understand the issue and the components, in my story it was being locked out, but other days it could be navigating the political landscape at the office or neutralizing sticky situation at home. Having a framework (and a smile) helps hold-off that overwhelming, suffocating feeling.
I piece of advice I heard a while back is to ask yourself “What would this look like if it were easy?” In my case above I had two options:
1) Call the Locksmith – Drill the lock for about $500
2) Scale a Wall and Hop through the Window
Once you have your oversimplified options laid out, it’s time to start carving a Path(s) to Success. Self awareness comes into play here too, understand if you have physical or resource limitations, but also know that doesn’t mean your out of luck, it just means the path is going to be a little different. Build-up the habit of “opting to figure things out” rather than defaulting to giving up. The most challenging situations often come with the highest reward, and I’m not talking from a monetary standpoint, this is purely a confidence play. As the wins pile up, so does your willingness to embrace the unexpected, to be comfortable with chaos, to say “Lets Do This” rather than “This Sucks”. Enjoy the ride and keep taking that leap (maybe not off the tower of Idiocy, but you know what I mean) and know that sometimes your gonna fall, but just like muscle, you need to get beat-up and broken-down to grow stronger.
