Trying Freedom

So my 30s began – I celebrated with a weekend of all things climbing in the north, starting with some indoor climbing at the Big Depot in Leeds, a day outdoors on Middlefell Buttress in the Lake District, doubling up as my friends first multi-pitch trad experience and capped off with a trip to Kendal Wall – didn’t quite get the most from that though as there wasn’t much left in the tank by then.

After getting back home, I felt some pressure to have more of a concrete plan than live off my savings for the foreseeable. Not long after my last post, I decided to get a few job applications out. I also decided that since everyone was telling me I was now old, it was about time to get back into running and the gym, so I signed up for a small group PT gym – Tibbs Fitness.

The job applications led to a humbling experience. Several different climbing walls and an adventure travel company later, I was rejected across the board because I didn’t have any relevant qualifications. This was something I didn’t expect, given the fact that I had experience in high-profile technical roles. I was simply forgetting how much of a career shift this was—why would a climbing wall care how much I know about Salesforce?

After my last visit to Wales, I also looked further into fast-track routes to becoming an instructor with companies such as the Plas y Brenin outdoor centre, but that’s also not an option due to either exceptionally high cost or not having enough experience to satisfy the entry requirements already.

Feeling somewhat downtrodden with no clear direction in sight, I was reminded by friends and family that I’ve put myself in the fortunate position to take my time while I work things out.

Now more comfortable going into the new year on that basis I decided to start laying out the adventures I’ve already got planned (and fortunately paid for). I then realised that no one would hire me even if I was able to find a job given I’d always be on holiday.

• January
  • Spain – Sport climbing in Costa Blanca
  • Lake District – Hiking
  • Peak District – Trad climbing
• February
  • Peak District – Trad climbing
  • Scotland – Mixed winter climbing
• March
  • Portugal – Stag do in Faro
• May
  • UK – Stag do & wedding
• June
  • Greece – Wedding in Lindos

In the meantime, I can work towards the entry requirements of the outdoor instructor qualifications, which essentially just means I have to do a lot of personal climbing and hiking… could be worse and I’ve been pretty consistent with it recently too. Unfortunately no news on selling my car as of yet which could make logistics difficult moving forward but hopefully buyers will appear in the new year.

I will also be keeping an eye out for some part time work in a technical role alongside this but I will wait until I find something that suits perfectly.

I’m definitely ready for the new year now, Christmas feels hard given the life events recently and put simply I don’t really want to do it, after starting to look into next year and realising that there’s a lot to look forward to I’m keen to get to it and restart – don’t let me dull the mood for your Christmas though, I wish you and your loved ones the very best Christmas and New Year!

Now, after laying out my adventures it’s pretty obvious that I’ll be staying fairly local (at least in Europe) for the first half of the year, the open question is then – what happens from the second half of the year on?

Thailand and the Philippines are the easy answer… but I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below!