Taking a break for a few weeks can save your bouldering
This is not really a rant, just thought maybe this could help anyone else who's hitting a wall in bouldering.
I'm quite short (5"feet or 152cm) and have been bouldering for close to a year. I was really enjoying myself the first 9 or so months. I made steady progress and got to around 6A or 6B (I'm not sure what this is on the american V scale).
However, two things started happening at that point. One was the gym I went to decided to change the route setting and went for a lot more dynamic routes and more big reaches. The other- which I honestly think was far more impactful on my climbing- was that I was experiencing burnout and stress in my personal life. I was struggling on climbs a full 2 grades below what I was doing prior to the route change and I was far more easily scared by attempting big reaches or any dynamic moves at all. Bouldering used to be my fun diversion from stress and then suddenly became something I was dreading. I was also getting injured a lot more frequently, small muscle pulls, soreness lasting longer, and more muscle cramps than before.
I was not having fun and considering quitting.
This went on for a few months. At that pont, a friend recommended I try taking a break. I was resistant at first because it felt like "losing" but I realised they were right. I stopped for two weeks.
It took a few days for the soreness to completely go away and after a week my body felt a lot better. During the second week I was starting to want to go climbing again, just randomly when I was alone and not talking about bouldering with anyone. I started watching bouldering reels and climbing videos and actively considering how I'd try to solve the route and stuff like that.
I've been a few times since my break ended and it's already been a lot better and easier than before. I decided to focus less on completing routes and more on practicing stuff I was bad at before (dynos, big reaches, small dynamic moves). And I've already made progress on boulders that I barely managed to start a few weeks ago. The other thing I changed was instead of going every other day I now go twice a week.
So if you're hitting a wall or getting frustrated from a long plateau, a substantial break can help.