That Snooze-Button Feeling

As my alarm clock is going off, urging me to get up and start my day, I reach over and tap the snooze button. I have bought myself 8 more minutes of sweet, sweet sleep. What is it about hitting the snooze button that is so rewarding? 

You might be asking what this has to do with climbing. Well, the other day I noticed a very similar phenomenon happening with my evening trip to the climbing gym. I had planned on getting to the gym at 7pm. As I was making my dinner and throwing in a load of laundry, I realized I was quickly running out of time. I sent a text to my friend seeing if they would mind meeting up at 7:15 instead. No problem. Gaining this extra 15 minutes felt to me like hitting the snooze button in the middle of my day. In other words it felt great. 

That is not to say I dread going to the climbing gym. Nor do I dread waking up to start my day. Quite the contrary. That magical snooze-button feeling is evident of something else altogether; the notion that even though the march of time is unchangeable, we can temporarily create the illusion that it is not. 

When I got to the gym that evening, my partner and I roped up and I started leading a route to warm up. I tried to focus on my breathing and footwork. I moved past the third draw and felt the slight anxiety of a small run-out. I reached down, pulled up the rope and clipped the fourth draw. Right then a familiar feeling washed over me; that snooze-button feeling that I could rest easy for a couple more moves.