Blog

In a world of thousands, if not millions, of people using online platforms, be it a blog, vlog, podcast or social media, to share their stories and ideas, you may be left wondering why I would dare enter the realm at what could be deemed as a late stage or more importantly, why you would or should enter it. When the online world seems already saturated as it is, what is the point anyway? Surely someone else has already covered what I want to say, right? These were some of the thoughts and questions I was left asking myself whilst reflecting on my blog, having moments of doubt about it and needed to renew my “Why” and what the purpose of it was when I started out. So really this blog is to remind me of my purpose and reinvigorate my drive as much as it is for you to get an insight into why I started. By the end of it, it might also inspire you to do something similar and start your own platform for sharing your story and ideas.

 

Whilst on the actual trips, I have never journaled as I went along, which is somewhat of a regret for me. The method of documenting my journey was through the pictures taken and the memories gained. However, the former doesn’t catch everything that happens and the latter certainly fades with age so I’d started a Word document to retrospectively detail what I’d done, just in bullet point format. It was when I started getting questions from others after posting some pictures about my trips that I started considering putting my stories in a more readily accessible place.

 

So to me, starting a blog seemed to be the sensible way of solving these two issues, and when the other reasons are considered, it only made senses to me. I felt that putting my story out there would give my perspective on things and hopefully resonate with a few people who are similar. This first seed being planted soon branched off into several other reasons, giving me a perfect moment to transition into one of the most important reasons for me: inspiration.

 

This is and still is my biggest driver. The experiences that I’ve had whilst exploring this fine piece of rock in space that we call home, I simply wouldn’t have had sat on my sofa with my feet up. Reading about stories, watching a video or even doing it in virtual reality just isn’t the same and never will be. But far too many times have I heard one of the following:

 

“I would love to travel but I don’t know where or how or what I’d do when I get there”

“I don’t have anyone to travel with so I’ll wait”

“You’re so lucky, I could never do that but I want to!”

 

Or a number of other excuse for inaction. Rarely do I hear a genuine reason from people. My ambition with this blog is to inspire others to take the dive and go on that adventure that they’ve always dreamed of. I was once paralysed by fear when I hit road blocks but once I overcame it all after making several realisations, I started solo travelling (if you’re interested, I wrote about this here) and I’ve never looked back.

 

Taking this dive isn’t just for travel though. It refers to good lifestyle changes through the medium of sport and helping people realise their potential by sharing my own experiences, like my path to a half marathon, or making large lifestyle changes in the face of societal norms, such as me giving up alcohol completely. This is another common thing people have asked me about and I find it sad that so many want to change something about themselves but don’t see a path to it or have a drive to. So if I highlight my journey and struggles, giving solutions to overcoming them, I hope to help at least one person be happier with themselves.

 

Ultimately, I want to inspire others to improve themselves and have the inspiration to make better life choices and live their life to their greatest potential. For me personally, it is one of the greatest feelings to know that your work, advice or message has done that for someone when the send you a message thanking you for helping them through what you’ve written.

 

Or not in some cases! When I’m looking to do something I will usually look up how to do it before I give it a go so that it doesn’t go wrong (hopefully) so from the blog, I wish to either relay the information and give credit to the source that helped me achieve what I was looking to do. However, if I’m somewhat of a trail blazer when it comes to something, or took a different approach meaning it was experienced in a different way, then showing how it was done can be useful for others to follow in my footsteps. At the same time, if something does clearly go wrong, I can let people know how to not do something so they don’t fall into the same issues that I did.

 

This wasn’t one of the things that got me started on the path to writing my blog however, as I’ve used it as a pseudo-journal, I’ve been able to reflect on my previous trips. This has allowed me to identify retrospectively what I truly felt about events and use that to tune future trips so that my experiences are in line with what I enjoy. Alongside this, it has been really good for me when it comes to my performances for my various sports, aiding me in the future with how I prepare for them, whether the training was correct and what can be done better next time. Not only that, it offers the opportunity for people to comment on what I did and for them to add anything extra to help me in the future by imparting their own advice on me.

 

Additionally to this, when you’re writing about different things across multiple years, you can see what seemed to be gradual changes for you over the space of several weeks, months or years, will look like great leaps overall. It really puts into perspective your personal growth over the years to see that you are in fact on the right trajectory and keep you on it if you’re having doubts about where you are at that point in time or if you’ve been heading in the right direction.