Category: Musings

Why I Haven’t Been Around + Goals Update

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Yorkshire Dales walk

Well, hello there! If you keep an eye on my blog, then you may have noticed that I’ve been posting less recently. For this, I apologise, but I wanted to give an explanation. You see, the last year has been pretty busy. I know, I know, everyone is busy all of the time. But sometimes, when you’re so busy that you struggle to see how you can to get through the next day let alone the next week, and you’re constantly falling behind on your ever-extending to-do list, it’s hard to prioritise what’s really important in life.

In the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of clients writing on some fascinating topics. I’ve also been working hard at growing the author side of my business: I’ve published one full-length novel (with a second coming soon in June), two novelettes and two novellas. I’ve also organised a wedding and started co-hosting a podcast.

When I look back on it, I’ve achieved a lot. But it has come at a price, and that has been my outdoor time. It’s ironic that, by writing about outdoor activities and adventure, I’ve actually ended up spending less time doing them myself. I suspect I’m not the only writer and entrepreneur to have fallen into this trap…

So, I decided on some changes. I will be continuing with my client work – no change there. (If you need a hand with copywriting or content marketing, get in touch!) And I’ll still be blogging, but not every week. I’ll post something as and when I have something I really want to write about and share with you. This will still probably be once or twice a month – I’m not disappearing completely!

I’m also going to be consolidating my social media channels in an effort to rationalise my social media addiction. I currently have two Twitter accounts, one for the author side of my business, and one for the outdoor copywriting side. Moving forward, I’m only going to be using this one, but I’ll be chatting about everything. The outdoors and writing about the outdoors is as much a part of me as writing novels or podcasting, so why should I try and tear myself in two?

Update on my goals for 2018

At the beginning of the year, I posted my outdoor goals for 2018. Whenever you’re setting goals, I always think it’s worth reviewing them every couple of months. Life changes, what we are able to do changes and, perhaps most importantly, what we want to do sometimes changes.

Ironically, given everything I’ve talked about above, my main aim for 2018 was to spend more time outdoors. I’m pretty sure I’ve achieved this, though based on the end of last year, I was working from a pretty low benchmark!

The main thing that’s forced me to spend more time outside is the Isle of Wight Challenge. In a week and a half, I’ll be walking 104 km around the Isle of Wight (over two days). I’m pretty sure this is the toughest challenge I’ve set myself, and I’ve been training hard for it. Many of my weekends over the past few months have been spent walking, come rain or shine. And until recently, there has been very little shine and rather a lot of rain, hail and snow.

I’m feeling reasonably well prepared for the walk. Or at least, as prepared as I can feel. (I don’t think you ever really feel ready for challenges like this.) I’m raising money for Mind, a mental health charity here in the UK, which is been a huge motivator to get out and train even when the weather has been, quite frankly, miserable. If you’d like to sponsor me, you can do so here.

My second goal of the year was to hike the John Muir Trail. My husband and I had planned to do this for our honeymoon. We may have underestimated the logistical challenge this presented… I also discovered while doing all these long walks, that while I LOVE walking, I don’t really love having to go out walking for 8 hours in the rain. We’ve also both found that we’ve missed climbing. Really missed it. With work commitments and busy lives, there’s just not the time to do everything and because I’ve been spending every weekend training for the Isle of Wight Challenge, this has meant we’ve done next to no climbing.

So, we changed our plan! We’re still planning on going out to the States, but we’re hoping to do a month long climbing trip later in the year. We haven’t been on a climbing holiday for ages so I’m really looking forward to this. 😀 I’m also looking forward to getting some strength back and exploring more of the crags around where we live.

This will also finally force me to face head-on my incapacitating fear of falling. I haven’t quite figured out how best to do this yet, but I’m working on it. More on that another time…

I would love to be a superwoman who is able to do it all, but I’m gradually coming to realise that I’m not. We all have different pressures on our lives and time and have to prioritise what’s most important to us. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that being outdoors is important to me.

Why Spending Time Outdoors Can Help You Sleep

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Sleep

Of all the things I enjoy doing, sometimes I think I love sleeping the most. Which is strange, because it’s also one of the things that I most resent doing. I constantly wish that I didn’t need to sleep quite so much, so I’d have more hours in the day to do more “productive” pursuits.

It seems I’m not alone. Many of us wish that we could get by on less sleep. But then there’s the other side of the coin: the insomniacs who would LOVE to be able to get eight straight hours a night. And, on occasion, I’ve experienced that side of sleep too, usually when feeling anxious and stressed about something. There’s nothing more frustrating than being desperately tired and exhausted, but unable to sleep.

And make no bones about it, sleep is essential to life. If we don’t get enough sleep, there are many potential side effects, all of them bad. Our bodies need time to recover and our brains need time to rest. There is a long history of the use of sleep deprivation as a form of torture and tests on animals have led scientists to believe that prolonged sleep deprivation could be fatal.

On a less macabre note, the amount of sleep you get affects your productivity and relationships. If I don’t get enough sleep then I can be grumpy, irritable and generally not very fun to be around. Compare that to the morning after I get a full night’s sleep and I’m a different person.

But it’s not just the amount of sleep you get, but the quality. I’ve noticed a couple of common factors in my own sleep patterns that determine whether or not I get a great night’s sleep. For example, I’ll usually sleep well if:

  • I’m sleeping in our campervan.
  • I’m camping (usually but not always).
  • I’ve spent the day outdoors, particularly if I’ve done a long walk or run. But an evening’s run in the fresh air can often have the same effect.
  • I’ve been reading for a while before bed (unless it’s a really exciting book!).

Conversely, there are a number of triggers which pretty much guarantee me a poor night’s sleep, which include:

  • Too much sugar before bed.
  • Working on the computer late at night.
  • Watching scary movies or thrillers in the evening. Basically, anything that gets your pulse racing or makes you think too much. (Yes, this does make me a very frustrating person to watch Netflix with.)
  • Checking my phone religiously before bed.

These revelations are nothing new and simply corroborate what many studies have demonstrated about good quality sleep. But do I always follow these guidelines? Of course, I don’t. I’m human. My life isn’t just one ballgame where I can go hiking each day, get to bed early every night and never worry about anything. I have work to do, deadlines to meet and occasional bouts of anxiety to deal with. I am even writing this late in the evening (though I promise I’m going to stop soon).

Perhaps it’s a classic case of knowing exactly what I need to do to fix something but struggling to have the disciple to implement it. Probably something to do with my Obliger tendencies…

Why Being Outdoors Helps Us Sleep

So, anecdotal evidence aside, what is it about being outdoors that helps us sleep well? There’s been a fair bit of research done on this topic. Here’s a summary of the main points and some of my own thoughts:

  1. Exercising outdoors first thing in the morning boosts our body’s natural sleep rhythm. The daylight activates the light-sensitive tissue in our eyes, encouraging the brain to produce melatonin (the hormone that makes us sleepy) earlier in the evening. If you struggle to sleep, then experts recommend exercising in the morning rather than the evening, particularly just before bedtime.
  2. Sleeping outdoors for a week (without smartphones!) has been shown to reset our biological clock to a more natural wake and sleep cycle, meaning we go to bed earlier and sleep for longer. When it’s cold and dark, our bodies naturally tell us to sleep, and when the sun comes up and it starts getting warmer, our brain tells us to get up. It takes us back to the days before central heating, electric lighting and Netflix, when our lives were much more affected by changing seasons. But if you don’t have a week, even a weekend spent camping can have a positive benefit. As if we needed an excuse…
  3. Sleep is often the first casualty of too much time spent in front of a screen. Presuming you don’t go hiking with your head buried in your phone, this makes time spent outdoors a form of digital detox. Which, most people agree, is a good thing to do every now and then.
  4. Another trigger for a poor night’s sleep is stress and worry. Spending time outdoors has been proven to lower stress levels and help reduce depression and anxiety, leaving us more relaxed and better able to sleep.
  5. Finally, there’s the simple fact that if you’ve been active outdoors all day, you’ll be pretty knackered, physically and mentally, and ready for a good rest. Plus, if you’re sleeping outdoors, there isn’t much else to do once it gets dark!

How To Sleep Better at Night

That’s all very well, but realistically, most of us can’t spend all day every day outdoors. So for those of us with busy lives, how can we help ourselves sleep better at night?

Firstly, you don’t have to spend long outdoors to reap the benefits. I find that even a half hour or forty-five-minute run can be enough to tire me out and get me ready for bed. Rather than going to the gym in the evening, try going for a run or a boot camp session outdoors instead. And if you find that exercising in the evening wakes you up rather than sending you to sleep, see if you can switch your training sessions to the morning.

Switch off in the evening. Don’t go for your evening run, only to come home and spend two hours in front of your computer or mobile phone. You’ll undo all the good work you’ve put into helping you sleep. (And yes, this is the guilty voice of experience talking…) Try and schedule your day so that all you need do after exercising is have some dinner and relax, perhaps by reading a book or spending time with your family.

If you always have a hundred thoughts jostling for attention in your head, then try meditation or yoga before bed. It can take a bit of discipline (particularly with meditation!) but switching off your mind before bed will certainly help you drop off to sleep quickly. I often use the Down Dog app on my phone to do a short, gentle yoga session in the evening. It helps me relax, stretch out my muscles after a day’s work and wind down from the day,

There are lots of different views out there on whether there’s a link between sugar and sleep. Some people say sugar before bed will keep you awake, others say it’s a myth. Chances are, like many things, it’s down to the individual. What I do know is, if I have a lot of sugar in the evening it will almost always stop me sleeping or leave me feeling groggy the next day. I love puddings, so this makes me pretty sad. But I think on balance, I love my sleep more. So while I may sometimes give in on the rare occasion I eat out, generally I’ll try and limits my portion size on puddings, have home-made puddings that contain less sugar or (shock horror!) have no pudding at all.

You don’t need to camp out for a weekend or a week to adjust your body clock to be more in tune with nature. It just takes a bit more of that dreaded word, discipline! At home, there are many distractions that can stop you going to bed early: household chores, television, socialising or even work. But there’s a reason why we tend to feel more awake in the summer when evenings are longer, and sleepier in the winter when evenings are short and dark. Rather than beating yourself up about wanting to go to bed early in the winter, why not listen to your body and let it tell you when to go to bed, and when to get up? (Though that doesn’t give you an excuse to be late for work just because it doesn’t get light until 8 o’clock in the morning!)

I think I’ll always slightly resent needing a good eight or nine hours sleep a night to be able to function properly when other people seem to do just fine with six or seven hours sleep. But I also feel grateful that most of the time I can have that much sleep. I have a warm house, a cosy duvet to snuggle up in and a husband to warm my feet on. I’m in a much better position than many people out there.

We all have different requirements and different struggles with sleep. But we owe it to ourselves to give our bodies and brains the rest and recovery time they deserve.

Why I Love the British Coast in Winter

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Bamburgh castle

This weekend, I decided that I love being by the sea in winter, and being in the mountains in summer. You’re probably thinking that sounds quite strange. Don’t I want to be in both places in summer and tucked up in a blanket with a hot chocolate and a book in winter? Well yes… and no*. You see, despite it being rather wintery outside (for once there is actually a scattering of snow to accompany the doomsday headlines of a Siberian arctic blast hitting the UK), I still want to be outside.

But don’t most people want to go to the seaside in summer? You know, when it’s actually warm enough to bathe in the sea and sit around in a t-shirt building sand castles? Well, yes. Which is one of the reasons I’d rather go to the beach in winter. The same beaches that are full of people in summer are barren, windswept places to be in winter.

I’ve just come back from a long weekend in Northumberland. I walked for miles and miles along stunning sandy beaches and rocky coastline and saw only a handful of people. The wind blew me along, hail occasionally battered my face and it was bitterly cold. Dark clouds hung ominously low in the sky, the sea crashed against the rocks and sunlight fought its way through the chinks in the clouds to shine spotlights on the landscape. It was so beautiful it almost hurt.

And, though the British weather is notoriously fickle, you don’t get the same experience of the coastline on a balmy summer’s day. That feeling of being bound up with the elements, of bearing witness to the force and power of nature as the waves smash into the coastline and the wind whips the sand into a hissing snake that winds its way around your shoes. It’s the way the sky and sea change their mood within hours or even minutes. It’s the exhilaration of not just witnessing nature but being part of it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had some wonderful days out in the hills in winter. When crisp snow blankets the ground and the sun shines down from a blue, calm sky, it can be amazing. But I’ve also frozen my butt off on a number of occasions and had the odd winter climbing experience where I’ve been very grateful to get down to a hot shower. Because when the weather turns, it’s not so fun. The mountains in winter are beautiful, but they’re also a dangerous place.

Of course, anywhere can be dangerous if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nature is a wild and unpredictable beast and that’s part of what makes it so magical. I rarely venture into the sea and have a very healthy respect for the ocean. And while I’m more at home in the mountains, this means I’m better able to judge when it’s going to be an enjoyable day to head to the heights and when it makes more sense to stay at home.

But what if you could put the best bits of both worlds together? If you could stand with a beautiful coastline on one side and towering mountains on the other. Do such places exist? (Is that a rhetorical question?)

Yes, they do. (And yes, it was.) Places such as the northwest coast of Scotland, the Isle of Skye and parts of north Wales. And these are some of my favourite places in the world.

Red Point Beach

*Just for reference, curled up with a hot chocolate and a good book is one of my absolute favourite places to be in winter. After I’ve exhausted myself on a good run outside of course. 😉

My Outdoor Goals for 2018

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My Outdoor Goals for 2018

Around this time last year, I wrote a post about how I wasn’t setting any New Year’s Resolutions for 2017 other than enjoying being outdoors. This was partly in response to my failure to complete most of the goals I’d set myself in 2016!

So, how did I do with my non-resolution resolution? Not bad… And not great. I DID enjoy the time I spent outdoors – very much so. There just wasn’t enough of it. Looking back, 2017 was an incredibly busy year. We moved into a new house (okay, technically this was in 2016, but right at the end!), I left my job and went self-employed, we got married and I published my first book. I worked hard. Really hard. And my outdoor time suffered.

So in 2018, one of my main aims is to spend more time outdoors. I’ve learned that, if I don’t get enough exercise or time outdoors, I start to get grumpy. I’ve also had more aches and pains in the last year than ever before – I’m putting this down to not exercising and stretching my muscles enough and too much time in front of a computer!

Enough of my waffle! Without further ado, here are my goals for 2018.

Goal 1: Complete the Isle of Wight Challenge

This is my big outdoor goal for the year. I’ve signed up to join a group of authors and creatives tackling the Isle of Wight challenge in May. We’ll be aiming to walk 104 km around the island over two days. Now, I love walking and have done some multi-day hikes in my time but this is harder than anything I’ve done to date and I have to admit that my legs are quaking slightly!

To give me some added motivation, I’m raising money for Mind, a mental health charity here in the UK. I’ve written before about how walking helps my mental health and it’s a cause that’s close to my heart for a number of reasons. If you’d like to sponsor me and give me an extra nudge to get out training, you can do so here.

So, ummm, training… I’ve entered a 15-mile trail run at the end of February to get my general level of fitness up. After that, I’ll be planning lots of long walks at the weekends (ideally back-to-back days) and trying to get out during the week. One of my goals for my author business this year is to master dictation, so I can get out walking and still get lots of stories written!

Goal 2: Hike the John Muir Trail

This is a tentative goal at the moment, as, to hike the JMT, you need to get a permit and these are in hot demand! If it goes ahead, it would also be me and my husband’s ‘proper’ honeymoon. Yup, three weeks hiking with no showers is our idea of a romantic holiday. 🙂

If we can’t get a permit, then we’ll rethink our plans and come up with an equally exciting alternative. Whatever we choose, it’s likely to involve a lot of hiking, so all that walking training in the first part of the year will come in handy.

Goal 3: Get Back Into Climbing

For various reasons, I didn’t get much climbing done last year. For the first part of the year, this was largely due to not having enough time to get out, or even to the wall. (DIY weddings, it turns out, are a LOT of work!) Then I developed RSI and my wrists and forearms were so bad that I couldn’t climb for most of the second half of the year. (I tried, but it meant I struggled to work the next day.)

Needless to say, after this long break, I am as weak as a kitten! I had my first session back at the wall this week and couldn’t even manage an hour on easy routes! But I have really, really missed my climbing, so even though I may not achieve any climbs of significance, I want to get some strength back.

Goal 4: Tackle a Long-Distance Cycling Challenge

This is a bit of a vague goal! But I’ve really enjoyed getting into cycling over the past few years and I’d like to take this a step further and take on one of the UK’s cycling challenges. Because I need to prioritise walking and running at the start of the year, this is likely to be an autumn goal, so I’ve got plenty of time to come up with something.

So, that’s it! Four goals for 2018. Some more challenging than others… What are your goals for this year? Post them in the comments and we can all check back at the end of the year and see how we did.

Why I Walk

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Me hiking in Scotland

I walk to feel the warmth of the sunshine on my skin. To feel the rain and wind lash my cheek, the elements batting me around as if I‘m a small toy in their giant game.

I walk to hear the birds chattering in the hawthorn bushes and calling to each other across the woods and moors. I walk to catch glimpses of hidden creatures. Voles and field mice, stoats and deer, and occasionally, at night, a fox or badger.

Sometimes I walk with purpose, to reach a destination. The top of a hill or mountain, most likely. A viewpoint from where I can survey the world or what little of it I’m allowed to see. But a walk does not need a destination and sometimes I just let my feet carry me where they will.

I walk to give myself thinking time. To mull over a problem or reassess my priorities. It’s as if the movements of my legs turn cogs in my head that power my brain to find a solution to whatever’s bothering me. The answer does not always come on the walk, but the walk is part of the process of discovering it.

But, there are also times when I’m content to think about nothing. To just let thoughts flow through my mind like water trickling down a beck. This too, is what walking is all about.

When I get angry or frustrated, I can feel trapped in the house. This place where I should be doing this or should be doing that; where I haven’t done this, or have failed at that. Walking is my escape. A chance to walk away from the anger inside and be calm again. To return to work with a fresh state of mind.

I walk to forget about the problems of the world. To put aside worries and cares, particularly those that I have no control over. To realise that I don’t have to change the world, I just have to do my bit.

I walk to feel the ache in my muscles and the pain in my feet. The focus that comes after you’ve been trudging for hours. How your world narrows to focus on just one thing: putting one foot in front of the other. It’s almost like a meditation. Left, right, left, right. There is just you and the footpath in front of you.

But, perhaps most of all, I walk to be outside. To breathe fresh air and walk in the beautiful countryside that we’re blessed with in the UK. Whether it’s a stroll through my local woods, a walk up over the moors or a hike up a remote Scottish mountain, walking makes me truly appreciate how lucky we are to have these beautiful landscapes. And why we must protect them.

Walking outside makes me feel alive. It reminds me of why life is precious. It makes me happy.

That is why I walk.