I’ve just finished reading a wonderful book by Erin Niimi Longhurst and can’t recommend it enough. It’s called Omoiyari – The Japanese Art of Compassion. The book explores lots of Japanese philosophical concepts and is a beautiful guide to understanding certain aspects of Japanese culture.

Several years ago, I found myself in a bad place. Seemingly out of the blue I was hit with severe and debilitating anxiety. I was so ill-educated on mental health that when I began having back-to-back panic attacks I honestly thought I was dying. It was such an intense experience and it completely changed my life.

Negative visualisation is an exercise that the Stoic philosophers of Ancient Greece and Rome used to do regularly and is a great way to cultivate appreciation for life. By focusing on what it would feel like for important things/people to be taken away from us, we remind ourselves how lucky we are.

After years of working on this project, my book has finally been released. It’s been quite a journey and I still have to pinch myself that this is now a reality. When I pick up my book, it feels surreal to be holding it.

Every year thousands of runners come together to participate in one of the most iconic races on the planet - The London Marathon. This year things were slightly different though…

At the start of 2020 I had plenty of climbing adventures in the diary. I was particularly excited about a trip in April – a mix of sport climbing, deep-water soloing and traveling around Malaysia. However, the universe had other plans... Instead, I found myself climbing Everest on my stairs.

We find ourselves in interesting times. The other day I saw a meme about people being stuck indoors that made me laugh hard. I then read a headline about the increasing coronavirus death toll and how a healthy 13-year-old child had just died from the virus. I wanted to cry.

As I write this blog, we find ourselves in unprecedented times... A global pandemic has caused the world to change how we live our lives. Entire countries have been forced into lockdown, governments have restricted citizens movements and millions of people are now working from home and will remain indoors for the foreseeable future.

We certainly find ourselves in interesting times. With most of the planet under lockdown due to coronavirus, we are all spending most (if not all) of our time indoors. This can be a challenge in itself and lots of us our climbing the walls. This post is here to give you some isolation inspiration (apologies about the cheesy pun). Hopefully some of the ideas here will keep you entertained during lockdown.

The UK was recently hit by “The storm of the century”, Storm Chiara. Widespread flooding and damage was inflicted as 90mph winds and torrential rain lashed the country. It was certainly the worst storm I can remember seeing here in the UK, and the images on the news and social media seemed to confirm this. The destruction was significant and my heart went out to those who suffered serious damage to their houses.

The other day I found myself sat in my parked car replying to emails on my phone. I’d been working through my inbox when I noticed two cars circling the car park. There were clearly no parking spaces and the two of them were driving around in the hope that a space would free up. They both noticed that I was sitting in my car and headed over to my space.

I read loads of books in 2019 and while it’s hard for me to choose a favourite, I’ve compiled a small list of the top three books that I think were truly outstanding. I believe there’s massive value to be gained from each of these books and I honestly can’t recommend them enough. If you’re looking for something to read, this is a great place to start.

I love the start of a New Year. It feels like a great time to reinvent ourselves and look at our goals for the future. It’s very easy to become cynical about New Year’s resolutions and think of them as things that we won’t continue to do but it doesn’t have to be like this.

The book Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a wonderful read. It explains in great detail how certain systems can benefit from volatility and stress. These systems are found in many different places in the modern world. By understanding what “antifragilty” looks like, we can start to welcome it into or lives and use it to cultivate a mindset that actually improves itself from stressful environments.

Podcasts have taken off and are becoming more popular than ever. The fact that we can listen to them whilst doing other things makes it an extremely convenient way to consume information. We can pop a podcast on in the car, at the gym or whilst walking to/from work. It’s such an effective way to optimise our time and feed our brains interesting information.

Death is an interesting subject and just thinking about it can make us uncomfortable. Coming to terms with our own mortality is something that every single one of us has to do. Some cultures embrace death, whereas for others, it gets swept under the rug and not discussed openly.

I recently returned from a trip to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. There was so much to do and I absolutely loved being in such a wild place. The fact that you might bump into a bear or a mountain lion when out hiking was a new experience for me. If I’m being honest, I was a little paranoid!

In this article I’m going to give you three quick and easy ways to leave your comfort zone. If you complete these challenges, you will have stared discomfort and absurdity in the face, and will have learned a thing or two about how your mind responds to being put under pressure.

I recently heard an interesting story that got me thinking. My friend was in a bar and noticed a woman he wanted to go and chat to. She had caught his attention but he didn’t want to approach her for fear of rejection or seeming too forward.

Fear is something that we all experience in our lives. It’s something that can come and go depending upon what situations we find ourselves in and can be quite unpredictable. Learning how to deal with fear is a skill that can be extremely useful to develop.