Recently, when I announced to my friends of my ambition to walk the length of Britain in 2025, I received a lot of reactions. Some were congratulatory, other supportive, but the most useful ones were bemusement.
“Why would you spend 4 months just walking in Britain? Why not go explore somewhere like Peru?”
To distill a desire down into a credible, succinct reason requires sustained mental thought, and that’s exactly what I needed to do.
A few months ago, I had to complete a course to qualify walk leader for the Ramblers. The course had a section exploring motivations for why people volunteer to lead walks. Bear in mind that the average rambler is probably in their 60s or 70s, and typical reasons included the health benefits of reducing stress and lowering blood pressure or of simply getting out the house and socialising.
These reasons resonate slightly with me, but my three main reasons are:
- challenge,
- autonomy and
- purpose.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, these ares the top 3 attributes found in jobs for those who experience the greatest workplace satisfaction.
Anyway, I’ll delve into reason 2 and 3 in subsequent blog posts, but for now let’s talk about challenge. Challenge is when you set yourseld a goal that is barely in reach to push and stretch yourself in to achieving more.
When I was reading the biography of Rob Burrow, in the first few months I was grieving for my father, Rob mentioned how his MND encouraged his close friends to embark on adventures to try and find peace with the world. They believed that Rob’s strength through great suffering provided them with deep inspiration and fortitude to take on previously tconsidered impossible or unmanageable pursuits.
I do not compare my march through Britain to be in quite the same league as the back to back marathon runners who raised millions for the MNDA, but certainly it’s something I never would have seriously considered before my dad’s diagnosis.
In dad’s self written obituary he said:
“My one piece of advice is: grab every opportunity that is offered to you as you do not know where it will lead and do not be afraid of change as you never know when it will be too late.”
So dad I walk with you and for you, with Tess by my side. How right you were that a spaniel would be a great addition to my life.
If you would like to consider sponsoring or supporting my walk through Britain, then you can make donations to the MNDA through my Just Giving Page here.
The MNDA actively recommend Just Giving as their fundraising platform of choice.
Walking Britain for Dad 