A Challenge Is Good For You!
Once in a while, it’s a really good idea to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself by doing something that you wouldn’t normally do. Life is all about experiencing all we can experience, not sitting about and falling into a rut, which is very easy to do. It can often be too easy to fall into the never ending cycle of waking up, going to work, coming home, sleep and repeat, with our weekends seemingly just for laundry, cleaning and other tasks that really only facilitate our return to the grind a couple of days later. For a long while, I was even rather rubbish at taking holiday time because I was in stuck a routine, time would just pass without me realising. And I know I’m not alone. The modern world has us all doing that to some extent. It’s quite depressing when you look at it like that, but I’ll share with you a little nugget that was shared with me that reignited my sense of adventure and broke me from the seemingly never ending pattern.
“We’re supposed to work to live, not live to work.”
I don’t know from whom this phrase originated, but it’s one of the things that’s stuck with me and actually changed my mindset completely. I stopped seeing work as ‘my life’ at that moment and remembered that it’s a thing that I do that enables me to do the things that I want to do. No one is their job – it’s just how you spend a good chunk of your time. With that, I started actually being happier at work. If I had a bad day, I was suddenly able to remind myself that it wasn’t the end of the world and if the worst happened, I could go and find another job and then that would be a thing that I spent time doing rather than this. The point I’m trying to make is that we’re not defined by our jobs, at least not completely – There are so many other things that define us, like our experience, our passions, our hobbies and pastimes to name a few. Work is only a small part of what makes us who we are.
So, armed with this knowledge, I started to look for an adventure to celebrate my newfound mindset and within a few days, one showed up on my workplace’s intranet. Now, normally, I’d have looked briefly at this sort of thing and thought “that’s the sort of thing other people do” but this time, I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A charity trek to Morocco to climb to the summit of the Atlas Mountains hadn’t even been on my bucket list, but suddenly, I found myself quite excited by the idea. I was on a night shift with my regular night shift partner and mentioned it to her once work got quiet and coincidentally, she was just reading the same post. She and I were very close and talked about all sorts and when one of us said “I’ll do it if you do it”, the other responded with “Well, I guess we’re doing it!” We’d discussed the idea of a good adventure and life being all about new experiences many times. I had zero doubts about embarking on an unusual trip with her, as she’s one of the people I trust most in the world and also one of the only people I listen to when they tell me I’m wrong and need a reality check.
Booking it didn’t seem like a big thing, as it was a year or so in advance to allow for training and fundraising, so it almost didn’t feel real that we were doing it. There were six of us from the company and my night partner brought her husband, who I already knew, so it was nice to have an excuse to get to know some people from other departments that I’d only ever spoken to on the phone. I don’t remember much of the buildup, but that year went so quickly and before we knew it, the date had arrived. We didn’t really know what to expect. We’d be arriving at a UK airport and having a night in an airport hotel and meeting the other people who were on the trip with us who were from all over the UK. It was all very exciting and a bit like some sort of special mission! I don’t actually remember that first night in the UK before we flew out, nor do I remember the flight out. I suppose most long flights are pretty much the same, though I do remember the food being particularly good on this flight. You’ve probably guessed by now that food is often my landmark in life!
Around four hours later, we arrived at Marrakesh Airport after a brief stop in Casablanca. It was a very quick bag grab and onto a minibus to be shuttled to our hotel for the night in the city before we’d leave to begin our trek the next day. The hotel was beautiful and we were greeted by two huge brass lanterns outside lit up with coloured lights. Opposite were lush green gardens that the local fire brigade jog around each morning. We had one night here and then we would be coming back after the trek for a couple of days, so any exploration of the hotel and its surroundings would have to wait. We were literally in, having a quick bite to eat and going to bed. As luck would have it, I ended up sharing a room with the cute guy in our group I’d been checking out since the UK airport. The bad news was, he was very straight. Ah well, one can’t win all the time!
The morning came and, well rested, we headed out and boarded another minibus out of Marrakesh and through the countryside into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. We passed through a couple of small villages dotted around the area before arriving at our start point in yet another village. I was quite surprised that the climate wasn’t as aggressively hot as I’d expected. In fact, coming into the mountains, even low down, it was pleasantly cool considering we were in Northern Africa in Summer. Though, in an amazingly blonde moment, it did take me til the fourth day of the trip to realise, out loud, that “Oh my god, we’re in Africa!” - Just to clarify, strange things happen to your brain when the altitude affects you and you’re already blonde!
It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting really – the first leg of the trip through a couple of villages, gradually getting higher til we arrived at what looked like an old, dried up riverbed with an old settlement carved into the hillside, it was fascinating! We carried on past this area and continued on up, knowing this may be one of the last bits of civilisation we were likely to see until Base Camp, where the night before the summit would be spent before a quick up and back to Base Camp and another night before coming back down. I don’t actually remember a huge amount of the trekking itself, as there was constant chatter between us all. Obviously, the group of us from work all chatted because we knew each other, but there were our two Berber guides to talk to who were full of information about the area, plus there were the other expedition members who were all either single people or a couple of pairs of friends, so a lot of time was spent getting to know each other. Everyone seemed to just click really, no one was massively out of place. After the first twenty-four hours together, being thrust straight into an unusual adventure that none of us had done before (With the exception of the guides and the team leader – Even the team doctor hadn’t been here before), we were all chatting as if we’d known each other for years!
I remember a long, curved, flat section that could have passed as a road had it not been up in the mountains and not joined to another road. As we turned the corner around the edge of a hill, there was a small stall selling scarves. I bought a lovely blue one and was taught by our guides how to wear it in the traditional way, but I couldn’t get it right at all. As blue is my mum’s favourite colour, it became a gift for her after she claimed it from my luggage on my return. The landscape was incredible! I made a point of just looking around every time I could because I wanted to just take everything in. It was truly amazing!
Further up, we arrived at a small settlement and spent some time there for a well deserved rest before moving back out to continue our journey. Another day of travelling, much the same but a little more on the chilly side and we reached Base Camp. It was a couple of buildings arranged like a very basic hostel where we’d spend a night before half a day to the summit and half a day back to base camp, where we’d spend another night before beginning the trek back down. Little did I know, this was as far as I’d actually make it.
During the last couple of hours on the way up to Base Camp as the altitude started to make itself known, the remnants of a cold that I thought I was over a couple of weeks before began to drastically reassert themselves. My throat became sore, I wasn’t that comfortable, but thought a good night’s sleep would fix it, so after our meal, I went straight to bed to prepare for the morning. During the night, however, I awoke with a screaming headache and a swollen throat and ended up having a panic attack, as I was finding breathing a little difficult. I was insistent that I was still going up the next morning, but by about two in the morning, the team doctor and my ‘big sister’ from work firmly informed me that it wasn’t going to happen. I was crushed. I’d made it this far and really wanted to make that last bit, but it just wasn’t possible. I was assured this was actually quite common, but that didn’t make it feel any better. The doctor gave me some mint tea and some tablets and I went back to bed and slept until way after everyone had left. I wasn’t alone, as one of the team woke up feeling the same an hour or two after me, so as much as I felt bad for them too, their presence was reassuring in that it wasn’t just me. About an hour after I’d got up and showered, annoyingly feeling quite a bit better, my work ‘big sister’ arrived back at camp alone. She told me she’d started heading up and the altitude had stopped her too. We had a big hug and sat down with some more mint tea, which I’d started to really love.
Looking out at the spectacular view, we both voiced our frustration at ourselves, but realised how far we’d actually come. We were in Northern Africa and so high there was snow! The view from the rooftop sitting area was spectacular, looking down the last big valley we’d climbed through. Rocks and snow created a fantastically dramatic backdrop and our starting point had long been left in the distance, several valleys (and what seemed like another world) away. Our disappointment soon gave way to something else. Obviously, I still have a little element of disappointment lingering in the back of my mind, even after thirteen years, but I refuse to see the situation as a fail.
The point is, we were happy that we’d made this extraordinary journey at all, but even happier that we’d tackled it together. From even the first day, we’d been somewhere we’d never dreamed of going and on an adventure like that, it had a way of cementing a bond between you. We’d got to know the other guys from our work who I didn’t really know before and it had made some good bonds there too. We’d all met new people that we wouldn’t have before – a few of whom I’m still in touch with now, all this time later! It became apparent that, while making it to the top would have been great, it’s the journey that’s the really important part! The things we saw, the things we did and the friendships we made are the real gold that came from it. Besides, the summit’s not going anywhere. We reassured each other that one day, we can always come back and have another crack at it, but no one can take away our experience that we had there. We did something we wouldn’t normally do and that’s the achievement in itself!
I don’t remember a huge amount of the trip back down, though I was pretty much back to normal after another good night’s sleep, which was both a relief and slightly annoying. When we got back to the old dried out riverbed area, the greenery we’d left behind seemed so much greener after a few days of not seeing anything green. As we came down, we saw the huge rugs and cushions laid out for us where a luxurious picnic had been prepared. It was a beautiful way to spend a couple of hours – not to mention sitting on something cushioned.
Eventually, we got back to the village where our minibus awaited us for the ride back into the city. We returned to the hotel and had a couple of hours before dinner, which we were all more than ready for. There was a fabulous bar area and pool on the roof that’s we all spent the night at in very good spirits, knowing the challenge was over and it was now time to relax. We were all so happy and I remember dancing to The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’ more than a few times. Every time I hear that song now, I’m right back there and can’t help but smile. We all got a good night’s sleep before getting up for our tour of the city, where we visited some palaces and historical sites and had some wonderful food. The next day we explored the marketplaces. What a magnificent experience that was – though I could have done without the snakes! If you ever think that depictions of the markets are exaggerated in films so that they look crazy and busy, I can honestly tell you it’s no exaggeration. It’s astounding! Every sense if bombarded and you need to keep your wits about you to avoid getting lost amongst the labyrinthine passages and streets lined with everything you could imagine and even more things you’d never imagined!
After a brief trip where some of us rented a couple of horse-drawn carriages to see some more sights and get dropped back at the hotel, we had an hour or two with some drinks at the rooftop pool enjoying the luxury before getting dressed up for our final dinner in the city, where we were taken to an old palace for a banquet before returning for more drinks at the hotel. One of the girls and I had heard of a gay-friendly club called The Black Diamond, so we snuck out feeling like teenagers and found it. I so wished we could have taken some of the others, but we had an incredible time in this hidden luxury club in an area where you just wouldn’t have expected it. Slightly worse for wear, we made the brief trip back to the hotel and got whatever sleep we could before our airport pickup the next morning.
We awoke unexpectedly rejuvenated and the day travelling home was quite emotional. We’d become like a little family during our great adventure and none of us wanted to say goodbye, so those of us who had really become close made sure it was a ‘see you soon’ instead of ‘goodbye’. While some of us hadn’t made it to the actual summit, there was still an enormous sense of achievement. We’d taken the chance to really step out of our comfort zones and go on an adventure that not many get to do and that was the achievement in itself. Challenging ourselves is how we discover more about who we are and how we discover new experiences. While I would have preferred to have not taken ill and obviously would have liked to get to the top, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was the perfect trip. Failure would have been never taking the opportunity to do something different. Making the journey is a very special victory for me. One that I’d do again tomorrow if I could persuade ‘Big Sis’.
Once in a while, it’s a really good idea to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself by doing something that you wouldn’t normally do. Life is all about experiencing all we can experience, not sitting about and falling into a rut, which is very easy to do. It can often be too easy to fall into the never ending cycle of waking up, going to work, coming home, sleep and repeat, with our weekends seemingly just for laundry, cleaning and other tasks that really only facilitate our return to the grind a couple of days later. For a long while, I was even rather rubbish at taking holiday time because I was in stuck a routine, time would just pass without me realising. And I know I’m not alone. The modern world has us all doing that to some extent. It’s quite depressing when you look at it like that, but I’ll share with you a little nugget that was shared with me that reignited my sense of adventure and broke me from the seemingly never ending pattern.
“We’re supposed to work to live, not live to work.”
I don’t know from whom this phrase originated, but it’s one of the things that’s stuck with me and actually changed my mindset completely. I stopped seeing work as ‘my life’ at that moment and remembered that it’s a thing that I do that enables me to do the things that I want to do. No one is their job – it’s just how you spend a good chunk of your time. With that, I started actually being happier at work. If I had a bad day, I was suddenly able to remind myself that it wasn’t the end of the world and if the worst happened, I could go and find another job and then that would be a thing that I spent time doing rather than this. The point I’m trying to make is that we’re not defined by our jobs, at least not completely – There are so many other things that define us, like our experience, our passions, our hobbies and pastimes to name a few. Work is only a small part of what makes us who we are.
So, armed with this knowledge, I started to look for an adventure to celebrate my newfound mindset and within a few days, one showed up on my workplace’s intranet. Now, normally, I’d have looked briefly at this sort of thing and thought “that’s the sort of thing other people do” but this time, I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A charity trek to Morocco to climb to the summit of the Atlas Mountains hadn’t even been on my bucket list, but suddenly, I found myself quite excited by the idea. I was on a night shift with my regular night shift partner and mentioned it to her once work got quiet and coincidentally, she was just reading the same post. She and I were very close and talked about all sorts and when one of us said “I’ll do it if you do it”, the other responded with “Well, I guess we’re doing it!” We’d discussed the idea of a good adventure and life being all about new experiences many times. I had zero doubts about embarking on an unusual trip with her, as she’s one of the people I trust most in the world and also one of the only people I listen to when they tell me I’m wrong and need a reality check.
Booking it didn’t seem like a big thing, as it was a year or so in advance to allow for training and fundraising, so it almost didn’t feel real that we were doing it. There were six of us from the company and my night partner brought her husband, who I already knew, so it was nice to have an excuse to get to know some people from other departments that I’d only ever spoken to on the phone. I don’t remember much of the buildup, but that year went so quickly and before we knew it, the date had arrived. We didn’t really know what to expect. We’d be arriving at a UK airport and having a night in an airport hotel and meeting the other people who were on the trip with us who were from all over the UK. It was all very exciting and a bit like some sort of special mission! I don’t actually remember that first night in the UK before we flew out, nor do I remember the flight out. I suppose most long flights are pretty much the same, though I do remember the food being particularly good on this flight. You’ve probably guessed by now that food is often my landmark in life!
Around four hours later, we arrived at Marrakesh Airport after a brief stop in Casablanca. It was a very quick bag grab and onto a minibus to be shuttled to our hotel for the night in the city before we’d leave to begin our trek the next day. The hotel was beautiful and we were greeted by two huge brass lanterns outside lit up with coloured lights. Opposite were lush green gardens that the local fire brigade jog around each morning. We had one night here and then we would be coming back after the trek for a couple of days, so any exploration of the hotel and its surroundings would have to wait. We were literally in, having a quick bite to eat and going to bed. As luck would have it, I ended up sharing a room with the cute guy in our group I’d been checking out since the UK airport. The bad news was, he was very straight. Ah well, one can’t win all the time!
The morning came and, well rested, we headed out and boarded another minibus out of Marrakesh and through the countryside into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. We passed through a couple of small villages dotted around the area before arriving at our start point in yet another village. I was quite surprised that the climate wasn’t as aggressively hot as I’d expected. In fact, coming into the mountains, even low down, it was pleasantly cool considering we were in Northern Africa in Summer. Though, in an amazingly blonde moment, it did take me til the fourth day of the trip to realise, out loud, that “Oh my god, we’re in Africa!” - Just to clarify, strange things happen to your brain when the altitude affects you and you’re already blonde!
It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting really – the first leg of the trip through a couple of villages, gradually getting higher til we arrived at what looked like an old, dried up riverbed with an old settlement carved into the hillside, it was fascinating! We carried on past this area and continued on up, knowing this may be one of the last bits of civilisation we were likely to see until Base Camp, where the night before the summit would be spent before a quick up and back to Base Camp and another night before coming back down. I don’t actually remember a huge amount of the trekking itself, as there was constant chatter between us all. Obviously, the group of us from work all chatted because we knew each other, but there were our two Berber guides to talk to who were full of information about the area, plus there were the other expedition members who were all either single people or a couple of pairs of friends, so a lot of time was spent getting to know each other. Everyone seemed to just click really, no one was massively out of place. After the first twenty-four hours together, being thrust straight into an unusual adventure that none of us had done before (With the exception of the guides and the team leader – Even the team doctor hadn’t been here before), we were all chatting as if we’d known each other for years!
I remember a long, curved, flat section that could have passed as a road had it not been up in the mountains and not joined to another road. As we turned the corner around the edge of a hill, there was a small stall selling scarves. I bought a lovely blue one and was taught by our guides how to wear it in the traditional way, but I couldn’t get it right at all. As blue is my mum’s favourite colour, it became a gift for her after she claimed it from my luggage on my return. The landscape was incredible! I made a point of just looking around every time I could because I wanted to just take everything in. It was truly amazing!
Further up, we arrived at a small settlement and spent some time there for a well deserved rest before moving back out to continue our journey. Another day of travelling, much the same but a little more on the chilly side and we reached Base Camp. It was a couple of buildings arranged like a very basic hostel where we’d spend a night before half a day to the summit and half a day back to base camp, where we’d spend another night before beginning the trek back down. Little did I know, this was as far as I’d actually make it.
During the last couple of hours on the way up to Base Camp as the altitude started to make itself known, the remnants of a cold that I thought I was over a couple of weeks before began to drastically reassert themselves. My throat became sore, I wasn’t that comfortable, but thought a good night’s sleep would fix it, so after our meal, I went straight to bed to prepare for the morning. During the night, however, I awoke with a screaming headache and a swollen throat and ended up having a panic attack, as I was finding breathing a little difficult. I was insistent that I was still going up the next morning, but by about two in the morning, the team doctor and my ‘big sister’ from work firmly informed me that it wasn’t going to happen. I was crushed. I’d made it this far and really wanted to make that last bit, but it just wasn’t possible. I was assured this was actually quite common, but that didn’t make it feel any better. The doctor gave me some mint tea and some tablets and I went back to bed and slept until way after everyone had left. I wasn’t alone, as one of the team woke up feeling the same an hour or two after me, so as much as I felt bad for them too, their presence was reassuring in that it wasn’t just me. About an hour after I’d got up and showered, annoyingly feeling quite a bit better, my work ‘big sister’ arrived back at camp alone. She told me she’d started heading up and the altitude had stopped her too. We had a big hug and sat down with some more mint tea, which I’d started to really love.
Looking out at the spectacular view, we both voiced our frustration at ourselves, but realised how far we’d actually come. We were in Northern Africa and so high there was snow! The view from the rooftop sitting area was spectacular, looking down the last big valley we’d climbed through. Rocks and snow created a fantastically dramatic backdrop and our starting point had long been left in the distance, several valleys (and what seemed like another world) away. Our disappointment soon gave way to something else. Obviously, I still have a little element of disappointment lingering in the back of my mind, even after thirteen years, but I refuse to see the situation as a fail.
The point is, we were happy that we’d made this extraordinary journey at all, but even happier that we’d tackled it together. From even the first day, we’d been somewhere we’d never dreamed of going and on an adventure like that, it had a way of cementing a bond between you. We’d got to know the other guys from our work who I didn’t really know before and it had made some good bonds there too. We’d all met new people that we wouldn’t have before – a few of whom I’m still in touch with now, all this time later! It became apparent that, while making it to the top would have been great, it’s the journey that’s the really important part! The things we saw, the things we did and the friendships we made are the real gold that came from it. Besides, the summit’s not going anywhere. We reassured each other that one day, we can always come back and have another crack at it, but no one can take away our experience that we had there. We did something we wouldn’t normally do and that’s the achievement in itself!
I don’t remember a huge amount of the trip back down, though I was pretty much back to normal after another good night’s sleep, which was both a relief and slightly annoying. When we got back to the old dried out riverbed area, the greenery we’d left behind seemed so much greener after a few days of not seeing anything green. As we came down, we saw the huge rugs and cushions laid out for us where a luxurious picnic had been prepared. It was a beautiful way to spend a couple of hours – not to mention sitting on something cushioned.
Eventually, we got back to the village where our minibus awaited us for the ride back into the city. We returned to the hotel and had a couple of hours before dinner, which we were all more than ready for. There was a fabulous bar area and pool on the roof that’s we all spent the night at in very good spirits, knowing the challenge was over and it was now time to relax. We were all so happy and I remember dancing to The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’ more than a few times. Every time I hear that song now, I’m right back there and can’t help but smile. We all got a good night’s sleep before getting up for our tour of the city, where we visited some palaces and historical sites and had some wonderful food. The next day we explored the marketplaces. What a magnificent experience that was – though I could have done without the snakes! If you ever think that depictions of the markets are exaggerated in films so that they look crazy and busy, I can honestly tell you it’s no exaggeration. It’s astounding! Every sense if bombarded and you need to keep your wits about you to avoid getting lost amongst the labyrinthine passages and streets lined with everything you could imagine and even more things you’d never imagined!
After a brief trip where some of us rented a couple of horse-drawn carriages to see some more sights and get dropped back at the hotel, we had an hour or two with some drinks at the rooftop pool enjoying the luxury before getting dressed up for our final dinner in the city, where we were taken to an old palace for a banquet before returning for more drinks at the hotel. One of the girls and I had heard of a gay-friendly club called The Black Diamond, so we snuck out feeling like teenagers and found it. I so wished we could have taken some of the others, but we had an incredible time in this hidden luxury club in an area where you just wouldn’t have expected it. Slightly worse for wear, we made the brief trip back to the hotel and got whatever sleep we could before our airport pickup the next morning.
We awoke unexpectedly rejuvenated and the day travelling home was quite emotional. We’d become like a little family during our great adventure and none of us wanted to say goodbye, so those of us who had really become close made sure it was a ‘see you soon’ instead of ‘goodbye’. While some of us hadn’t made it to the actual summit, there was still an enormous sense of achievement. We’d taken the chance to really step out of our comfort zones and go on an adventure that not many get to do and that was the achievement in itself. Challenging ourselves is how we discover more about who we are and how we discover new experiences. While I would have preferred to have not taken ill and obviously would have liked to get to the top, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was the perfect trip. Failure would have been never taking the opportunity to do something different. Making the journey is a very special victory for me. One that I’d do again tomorrow if I could persuade ‘Big Sis’.
