ADVENTURE + ALIVENESS Page 5 of 22

What a difference eleven days makes

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Before I boarded a plane to Costa Rica 11 days ago I was wired, stressed out and, frankly, knackered. Eleven days later, following some dreamy time alone in paradise, primarily to write but also to slow down, get quiet, unplug, reconnect, soak in some sunshine, do yoga and eat well, I feel like a different person. Of course a tan always helps, but the thing I can’t help noticing is the inch-long ever-present furrow above my brow has completely disappeared. In just 11 days. My skin is clearer, my eyes are brighter, and I have lost at least half a stone in weight. What a difference eleven days makes.

We know it makes a difference when we are good to ourselves. When we make an effort to make time for the things we love, to make space for nothing, or for something. And yet day after day, week after week, we push on, ignoring the impulse to rest and rejuvenate. What is wrong with us?!

This time was a real gift. While I was away it was my 39th birthday, and I cannot think of a better way to begin the last year of my thirties. It was a wrench to be away from family, and I am sure Mr K has changed more than his fair share of nappies this past week or so, but I know I am going home a better version of myself.

It also helped that I was taken care of so very well.

And while here I had one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. You’ll have to wait until the book comes out to read about that, but I know it was only possible because I was here, ready, open.

It’s not easy to find the time and money to get on a plane and fly to Costa Rica. You have to call in a lot of favours, plan ahead and perhaps even work more before leaving to enable that time away. But it is so worth it!

This week I urge you to gift yourself some time, even just 20 minutes for a walk, or an hour for a yoga class, or perhaps a day to paint or go and explore somewhere.
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And if this has really struck a chord with you, and you need some real time away, in nature, you might want to consider doing something impulsive and booking yourself a plane to Italy next week. My friend Andres Roberts of Way of Nature UK is co-leading a retreat in the Tuscan countryside called ‘Let go and relax’.

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I was supposed to be going myself, but a bereavement has meant I cannot be there at this time. So there is a spare place, and Andres has kindly said someone in the Do What You Love community can have it at 15% off. This amazing retreat includes a 24 hour solo in the forest, which I know will be transformational. If you think this is for you, just drop Andres a line and he’ll make it happen.

Whatever you do with your YOU time this week, soak it up, and then plan some more.

Pura vida,

Beth

PS All this month on the blog we are discovering how it’s never too old to do what you love. If you missed it, here’s an interview with Nick Christian, who wrote his first book aged 70.

On my 39th

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Costa Rica - poolI want to take a moment to be grateful today, for this day, my 39th birthday which I am spending in a beautiful yoga spa in the Costa Rican jungle and on a white sand beach at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

I have spent most this week working on my book, which will be on the shelves this time next year. I came here eleven days ago with a rough structure and an inch-high stack of notes. I now have nearly 30,000 words of a first draft to send to my editor. It’s still a long way off the final version, but it’s in a completely different place to the day I landed, and I am so grateful for this time.

I couldn’t have done it without the incredible care of the staff here at the Costa Rica Yoga Spa. They couldn’t have done more to make me feel at home, and give me space to write and write.

Costa Rica

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How to plan your grand adventure

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This is a guest post by adventurer, author and motivational speaker Alastair Humphreys. Find out more about Alastair here.

Alastair

You’ve decided you want to do a big journey. You’ve begun saving. You’ve allocated time in your calendar to the trip. Your family and boss know that you’re doing the trip. Nothing is standing in your way. (You have permission to smile smugly at this point.)

What happens next? Well, next you need to work out what you are going to do, and where you will go. It’s time to make a plan.

For many of us, the yearning for adventure comes before having any idea of what it is you are going to do. Until you know something about travel and adventure it can be hard to work out what you want from your trip, and what ingredients are needed to cook up a decent journey.

This was certainly true for me when I started out. I knew nothing about the practicalities of making an adventure happen. I didn’t really know the ways in which my adventure would differ by heading to different parts of the world. I didn’t know very much at all!

I knew only that I wanted to head far away from everything that was familiar. I wanted to do something physically difficult. I had no specific skills I could draw on. Wild places appealed to me, rather than cities. And it needed to be cheap. I didn’t really care what I did: I just wanted to do something!

How then do you begin to narrow down your choices when the whole world is beckoning?

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An Update From Do What You Love HQ – April ’16

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I sat down to write this month’s update and whilst considering what to tell you about – I’ll get to that soon – I glanced at my calendar. It read April 16. Three years ago to the day since I started with Do What You Love.

I had just returned from my honeymoon and the magic and romance of Tuscany was fast being replaced by one very real and overriding thought:

“Was it really a good idea to give up 12 years of a good career… especially now?”

Not only was the world trying to come to terms with the worst global recession in recent history, we were about to start our new life as a family. Is there a bigger adventure? And the main security we had, I had discarded without remorse. The reality now was that our immediate future was a complete unknown and our family’s wellbeing was in the hands of a fairly whimsical concept – Do What You Love.

Had I been completely selfish, foolish and irresponsible?

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Straits cycling: Singapore to Malacca and Penang

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This is a guest post from Claire Le Hur who is cycling to China with her fiancé Stuart Block. The couple will start their journey in East Africa where they will follow new ‘silk roads’ charting the journey of key natural resources as part of an exciting new education project. Claire will be riding a bamboo bike, built by an African social enterprise and Stuart will ride a tandem, keeping the back seat free for those they meet en route. They will also be raising money and awareness for two great educational charities. Find out more about Claire’s big adventure here.

Claire Le Hur

After taking a month’s ‘holiday’ and cycling only 200km we desperately needed to make up some miles and Malaysia, with its wonderful people, careful drivers, and flat roads, was the perfect place to do it.

We chose to cycle the west coast as it was a shorter distance to Thailand, plus it offered better weather and seemed less touristy. In fact, between Malacca and Penang we didn’t see another westerner.

newyearCelebrating Chinese New Year in Malaysia

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Do What You Love interview – Henrik Dahle

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Writer, artist, director of theatre and film, anxty environmentalist and social engineer, Henrik Dahle is passionate about doing what he loves. Always on the case with a project and forever thinking up new ideas, he spends his days rewriting scripts, lugging art to galleries, scrawling poems on tiny pieces of paper, editing digital images and making stories with them. Top of his list of priorities is protecting the natural world, and making the most of his time in it. This is what inspired his recent personal challenge: to climb a tree every day for a year.

tree 111aTree 111. Bay Tree. Chiavari, Italy. I bloody love this tree. Such beautiful shapes of intricate interwoven curls, pulsing out from the centre to gather the light. Image credit: Jacob Parish.

“365 days is a long-haul project and there’s discipline involved. There’s a scale to it – you have to persevere,” Henrik says. “Trees are the greatest lungs of the world. The largest single offering from the Earth. We take them for granted. We appreciate them if we take notice. We explore them as children, our bodies remembering the primal experience of climbing. It’s why hands were invented.” 

Henrik’s journey took him through ten different countries, and saw him meet everyone from belly dancers and actors to school children and professors. As well as taking photos from the trees he climbed, Henrik found himself conducting interviews among the branches and he is now writing a book to document his wild and wonderful escapades. We caught up with him to find out more about his life, loves and leafy adventures… ~ Rachel

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Do What You Love Interview – Tiffany Coates

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I’ve always dreamed that one day I’d be able to ride a motorbike. As a child I’d sit for hours watching my next door neighbours tinker with their bikes and, come the weekend, speed off in their leathers on some wild and crazy adventure. I had no idea where they were going or what they would be doing, but I wished I could go along for the ride.

As an adult I started thinking differently. ‘It’s way too dangerous’, I told myself. And then, when I became a mum, ‘I have to be responsible now and when would I find time to ride anyway?’ Comments from others, like: ‘bikes are really heavy you know’; ‘you need good balance’; ‘it’s a skill’; ‘it takes a long time to learn’; ‘the test will be difficult’; ‘you don’t have a bike – or any gear’ gave me all the more reason not to try. 

But a few weeks ago, when I interviewed the inspirational Tiffany Coates, the world’s foremost female bike adventurer, something changed. Tiffany has covered more miles than any other solo female rider and, as an international freelance motorcycle guide, she really is doing what she loves. Tiffany’s story reminded me that I’d let fear get in the way and that I needed to give myself permission to follow my dreams. Two motorbike lessons later and I’m so grateful for her words of wisdom. I hope this interview gets you thinking about what you’d love to do and how you can make it happen. ~ Rachel

Tiffany PeruTiffany and Themla (bike) in Peru

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Adventures in the Rainbow Nation

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This is a guest post from Claire Le Hur who is cycling to China with her fiancé Stuart Block. The couple will start their journey in East Africa where they will follow new ‘silk roads’ charting the journey of key natural resources as part of an exciting new education project. Claire will be riding a bamboo bike, built by an African social enterprise and Stuart will ride a tandem, keeping the back seat free for those they meet en route. They will also be raising money and awareness for two great educational charities. Find out more about Claire’s big adventure here.Claire Le Hur

We spent six weeks in South Africa, or the “rainbow” nation, as Reverend Desmond Tutu liked to call it, and were amazed by its diversity and contrasts. It’s a place where wealthy cutting-edge cities stand next to primitive aborigines and wild animals, where natural beauty lies next to ugly scenes of human depravity, and where the kindest, most generous people live side-by-side with gun-brandishing criminals. Sadly modern South Africa is still carrying the legacy, and the scars, of more than 300 years of oppression and segregation and while some credit must go to the post-apartheid governments for improving roads, electricity, education, and housing, the country still faces huge political, social and economic challenges.

We crossed the border to South Africa at Beitbridge, the busiest border post in Africa, where we waited three hours in the midday sun. It was tough, but people were saying that it can take all day to get across, so in that respect we were lucky. Once over we headed straight to Johannesburg where we had a few days exploring the city and enjoyed a much-needed break from pedalling!

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