Trying Freedom

Welcome to 2025… this blog is starting to become a great way of reminding me that time is going by so fast. I’ve been wanting to start a new post for some time, as I’ve (once again) been feeling somewhat lost in the journey I’ve put myself in, and blogging has been a great way of getting me out of that loop.

When I say lost… I’m not exactly sure how, as I look back on all the grand plans from my last post, and I’ve ticked most of them off. Including changing car and focusing on getting in the best shape I’ve ever been in, tested and proven by running my first half marathon.

• 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

All of the trips were all incredible, possibly excluding the night out in Benidorm. Not being satisfied with having nothing booked in April, I even managed to add in another trip abroad to Kalymnos for my first proper go at some outdoor sport climbing – something I’m now very keen to do again and will be doing exactly that in Pembroke next weekend.

However, towards the end of the trip, I was pulled back to reality with another harsh reminder that life’s too short in the form of losing my uncle. It’s been a devastating blow that’s been very hard to process, losing someone who played such a big part in my life growing up and not long after losing Mum, has made me feel like I’m back at square one.

Fortunately, at almost the same time, I was also given a glimmer of good news to answer the big question I’ve asked myself for many months now.

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?

I was invited to interview with a company called Adventure Peaks (who I used to visit Nepal back in 2023) for a position as an Expedition/Trek Leader & Operations Manager, which I applied for around a month earlier (along with in January, but we’ll ignore that).

The interview was immediately after I landed back in the UK, and despite not being in the mindset for it for obvious reasons, I decided to give it a go and booked an Airbnb for the day after I landed. What’s the worst that could happen? I get some interview experience and a few days in my favourite place in the UK?

Somewhat to my surprise (given my mental state in the run up to the interview), I was then offered and shortly after, accepted the role, which means that I’ll be moving to the Lake District in July and trying out the only full-time career that I can perceive will be fulfilling as it relates to my hobbies.

Accepting the role wasn’t as much of a clear-cut decision as I expected it would be. I was hit with a wave of concern over not being close enough to family and friends, but as they all reminded me, they’re only a drive away, which isn’t something that bothers me, and I can’t pass on opportunities like this.

I originally thought I’d be focusing on the Operations Manager part of the role due to my lack in qualifications to fulfil the Expedition/Trek Leader part of the role, however, I will now be able to complete the training (that I already wanted to do) whilst on the job, starting with my Mountain Leader training in August, which will go nicely against my CWI training I completed in February.

The role aside, I think the move in itself will be good for me, I thrive in my own space but ideally not in one room, and I’m not sure how healthy it is for me to still be in the family home after losing Mum.

Finally, the only part I’ve missed from the last blog.

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 found it exceptionally difficult to log in to LinkedIn and start to trawl through job adverts, the first requirement bullet points are always the same type of thing, “Exceptional Stakeholder Management, Exceptional Project Management”, which caused me to immediately lose interest.

I’ve said since the start of this career break that I’m not choosing to be out of work; I was simply waiting for the right opportunity to come up, and the timing of everything going on in my personal life makes me think that this is exactly what I should be doing.

Time will tell if I’m right or not, but for now, it feels like the first bit of good news in a while, and I’m excited. I will finally have some stability for the first time in a while, with the only other trip booked abroad that I haven’t already mentioned for the year being a trail run in November in Spain.

There will be more blog posts, but perhaps I need to change the tagline?