411 Holly Worton ~ Who Do You Need to Be for The Adventures You Want to Have?

Transcript

Holly:  Hello adventurers and welcome to the Into the Woods podcast, episode 411. This is your host Holly Worton, and I am back with another solo episode. Today I am going to talk about something that I have been thinking about for a while and wanted to share with you. I hope this will be really helpful for you when you start planning your new adventures for the rest of the year and beyond.

So, the question that I hope to help you answer today is: who do you need to be, for the adventures you want to have?

So, this is a topic that I have kind of touched on in a couple of episodes, but I wanted to delve a bit deeper and figure out a way to answer this question specifically.

So, the way I see it, this is not just about getting practical knowledge so that you can have the adventures that you want to have, but it is also about acquiring the adventure mindset that you need. There is more than just sports-mindset (and I hate to say ‘just’ sports mindset because that’s a huge topic!), what I am going to be talking about today is about overcoming the fears and blocks and limiting beliefs, to stretch out of your comfort zone and engage in the adventures that you want to experience; this is adventure mindset. And I am going to talk a little bit about the practical knowledge that you might need, because that’s important too.

So, what are you going to learn today? We are going to talk about who you need to be for the adventures you want to have; your self-image as an adventurer; how to figure out how far you want to go with your adventures and of course that may change over time. We are going to talk about the practical knowledge you might need, how to build the adventure mindset that you might need and what not to do.

So, this is a topic that I started thinking about a couple of weeks ago when my husband and I were looking at races to do between now and the end of the year. So, we have this ultra that we signed up for originally in September, which was the Thames Path Challenge. And I was really excited to do that because I love the river, and I love walking and running alongside water, and I thought it would be really beautiful, and I thought it would be easy because it is flat. However, we booked this ultra last year, it must have been August or September of last year, and I was originally planning to walk it and he was planning to run it and we thought, oh it is flat, it will be easy. We went into this from a state of naivety, I don’t know, lack of experience. So, I have since realised that flat routes are not easy routes, especially when it is a long distance thing like this; flat is really rough because you are using the same muscles in the same way for an extended period of time and I felt that earlier this year when I was doing the Downslink and the Wey South Path. Those routes aren’t totally flat but long stretches of them are flat and so it is very monotonous for your muscles. The nice things, about normal trails is that you can go uphill and you can go downhill, you have some flat bits but it is all mixed together so you are using your muscles in a different way and that makes it easier, or at least it feels easier for me, I really like having that variety on trail.

So, we are planning to defer that booking for that race to next year and pick another one that is not going to be as flat. And, in the meantime, we were looking for something fun to do in September and my husband started looking at the Snowdon ultra and I will link to this in the show notes so that you can take a look at it. So, we found out about the Snowdon ultra online and we started looking at some YouTube videos and looking at people actually running this race. There are two options for it, there is the 50-mile race and the 100 mile race. And, as you can imagine, I don’t know if you are in the UK, if you are not Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, it is a very mountainous zone. And I don’t live in a highland area, I live in a lowland area, so we are used to training in lowland areas, so doing something like Snowdon would be a massive change from our normal territory and terrain which is great, it is good, it is good that they have two options of distances. But when we started watching the videos, two things happened, my husband instantly fell in love with the trail, the route and he actually signed up for it and I was thinking: my god this is beautiful and terrifying. We had two very different reactions to this and ever since then I have been mulling it over and thinking, do I want to do this, do I not want to do this? I could just go and accompany him, or I could do the 50 miler for myself, I am totally not ready for a 100-miler this year, that is not under consideration, but even a 50 miler of this type of terrain would be super-challenging for me. And it involves a lot of scrambling on mountain peaks and that just scares the shit out of me, especially if I were to come across those peaks at night. I will share some videos in the show notes, and you can take a look at them, it is absolutely gorgeous, it is really tempting, and I don’t know if I am ready for it.

So I am going to spend the next couple of weeks, or a few weeks, working on my mindset, and trying to figure out who I need to be to sign up for that, because I would like to do it, but it scares me, I am definitely not ready for it now.So obviously, if I saw the videos and thought, ‘no way am I am going to do this’, I wouldn’t be considering working on my mindset and working on the skills that I need to do a race like this. I would just say, ‘no thank you, I will accompany you and good luck’. But because it really piqued my curiosity, I am going to do some work and see if I can get myself ready for it this year and hopefully there will still be spaces to sign up. To give you an idea of how challenging this is, the cut-off time for the 50-miler is 24 hours and cut-off for the 100 miles is 48 hours. That’s a hugely generous cut-off time for those distances and that’s because the terrain is so, so, challenging.

Who do you need to be for the adventures that you want to have? As I said in the intro, answering this question is kind of made up a few different pieces. So first of all, you need to know how far you want to go: do you want to stretch outside of your comfort zone? How far do you want to stretch outside of your comfort zone? What practical knowledge do you need to be able to have this adventure? What are the fears, blocks and limiting beliefs that you need to clear so that you can have this adventure? And how can you get the skills and mindset that you need to do the things that you want to do?

And a lot of this is about your self image, so it is about who you are now and who you want to be. And I was just reflecting on last year when I was watching all of those adventure documentaries that I keep talking about that we are still watching today, sometimes we watch a tv series, but we always take breaks and have at least once a week, we will have an evening where we watch YouTube videos of other people’s adventures, usually ultra running.

So last year, when we started watching these documentaries, I was the person who couldn’t run more than a half-hour and running was hard and I thought that I was no longer a runner, I thought that I used to be a runner but no more and I saw these videos of people running ultra marathons and I was thinking, ‘my god, I would love to do that, I wonder if I could do that? I could never do that… maybe I could do that, could I do that? I don’t know, nah…’. But I had that desire. But I didn’t think that I could do that because it wasn’t in my self image, I wasn’t a runner, I could only run a half-hour. And of course, if you can only run a half-an-hour, you are still a runner! Just because you are not running 100 miles doesn’t mean that you are not a runner, but that was how I saw myself.

So get an idea of what your self image is, who are you now in respect to your adventures and who do you want to be? And of course, since then, I have gone on to run a marathon, I have gone on to run 50k, 55k, and I have got 100k coming up in July. So, assuming I complete that, I will have come way further than I thought I could back last August when I thought I wasn’t a runner, because I was only running at 30 minutes. So, my self image has really changed, now I can see myself as a person who can do these things because I am doing these things and I want to stretch myself to see if I can do even more. So next year I would love to do a 100-miler, so we shall see. The fact that I am even considering it or planning it, or looking at races, is just a massive shift in my self image. So again, think about who you are now, and who you want to be in relation to your adventures and your adventure plans.

Next it is important to know how far you want to go. So you might currently be in your comfort zone, you are playing with your adventures or your are running or hiking or cycling or whatever, you are comfortable, you are doing what you know you know how to do, it is comfortable, it is joyful, it just feels like playful adventure and then sometimes, maybe every once in a while, you may find yourself more in your stretch zone, which is more the adventure zone. You are stretching outside of your comfort zone, and you may be doing something new, you maybe doing something different, and that’s exciting, that’s the adventure zone where you are stretching out of your comfort zone, you are doing new things and doing things in a different way and growing as an adventure, you are growing as a person. Because every time you stretch outside of your comfort zone in your adventures, that effects every other part of your life, and it will give you more courage and more strength and more confidence to do new things in other parts of your life. And then beyond that stretch zone there is a frontier zone which is where you are really pushing the boundaries and then beyond that is the panic zone which can lead to misadventures.

And this concept of the comfort zone, stretch zone, frontier zone and panic zone I got from Mark Reid from team walking who I will link to in the show notes. So, I have done a lot of navigation courses with him and outdoors stuff and he is based up in North Yorkshire and I have also done some online courses with him and he is absolutely fantastic. So he introduced me to this concept of these four zones, obviously before that from the world of coaching I had hard about the comfort zone and the stretch zone but I think this frontier zone and panic zone aren’t talked about enough, we talk about stretching outside of our comfort zone and that’s great and that is what we want to do so that we can grow, but I think we need to consider what comes beyond that, because sometimes we don’t stretch outside of our comfort zone, we take a giant leap outside of our comfort zone and we can get ourselves into this adventurous or difficult situation. So if tomorrow, you ask me to go up to Snowdon and do this ultra, I don’t think it would end well. I would be terrified to be at the top of those peaks scrambling in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t be ready for it mentally, emotionally, physically at all. I am going to have to do work if I decide I want to do it, so when we stretch into our panic zone we can panic, and we can injury ourselves and we can cause problems for ourselves and for other people and they have to rescue us. So it is really important, I think, to stretch, stretch, stretch, but be mindful of whether you are stretching into adventure zone or panic zone, because jumping straight into panic zone is really not going to end well, or at the very least it is probably not going to be enjoyable. So, be aware of how far you want to go.

And take it in increments, maybe I won’t be ready in September for this race but maybe I will be ready next year, maybe I will be ready for something else equally challenging another time, I don’t know, we will see. But you can stretch little-by-little until you get to that zone. Certainly, this 100k race that I am doing in July, that is a stretch outside of my comfort zone, I have never run 100km. Some of the terrain I am familiar with, it is lowland conditions, so obviously familiar with that, so there are things that are going to make it easier and not not panicky, but it is definitely going to be a stretch outside of my comfort zone. So, there’s that, so think about that when you think about how you are going to stretch outside of your comfort zone with these adventures.

Then think about the practical knowledge, what do you need to learn? For me, with Snowden, I don’t remember the last time I was scrambling over mountain peaks, if ever. So, I am going to have to google that and watch some videos and look at that, how do you do it? What do I need to keep in mind? About…I don’t even know what I don’t know! How do I place my feet, how do I hold onto the rocks, what do I do and what do I not do? And learning those things, even if I do it online, that is going to give me the confidence to know what I need to know, if I decide to do this event. So, depending on what your adventure is, think about what outdoor skills do you need? Do you need to learn bushcraft skills? Do you need to learn how to stay safe in the outdoors? Do you need about heat and cold injuries? Do you need to know outdoor first aid? What outdoor skills do you need for this? So, for me, I think it is kind of the scrambling thing, I think it is going to be being out on a trail at night, obviously there won’t be too much night because I think it starts quite early in the morning and we will still be in summertime, so the days will be long. So, there won’t be too many hours of night for the 50-miler, but there will be some darkness, so I need to learn those things.

Next, you may need some skills specific to your support. So, if you are a runner you need to know how to run in a mountainous terrain and work that out. If you are going running or backpacking or hiking you need to learn those skills. Cycling you need to know skills specific to cycling, whether that is how to fix your bike if something goes wrong, or I don’t know. Think about what practical knowledge and skills you need to learn in order to have the adventures you want to have, in order to have these new adventures that are outside of your current comfort zone. What do you need to know for the adventures that you want to have?

And then look at your adventure mindset, so look at your current mindset, what are the fears, blocks, limiting beliefs that you might have about the adventures that you want to have? So, what are my fears? My fears are that I get to the top of some mountain in the middle of the night, it is going to be pitch black and I am going to be scrambling over this mountain, I am going to slip, I am going to fall off the mountain to a rocky death. That escalated quickly, but I mean that is a kind of worst case scenario, death, and it is certainly possible, I think it was 21 ultra runners were killed in terrible weather conditions in China on an ultra marathon just a couple of weeks ago, that was absolutely horrible, a horrible incident and I am very sorry for those runners – no one goes into a race thinking they are going to die but it is a possibility with adventure.

Look at your current mindset: fears, blocks and limiting beliefs, what other fears, blocks and limiting beliefs do I have? I guess just being miserable, getting to those scrambling parts and hating it and being a sobbing, crying, mess on my own in the middle of the mountains and there are no runners within my sight before or ahead of me, and I feel like I am all alone and I just can’t handle it and, I don’t know, I have a miserable time. Limiting beliefs: I can’t do it, I am not a mountaineer, I am not a scrambler, I am not the kind of person who can do these things. So, look at, again, think about the specific event or thing you want to do and think about all the fears, blocks and limiting beliefs that come up as you think about doing that. So that’s looking at your current mindset and obviously you need to do the work to clear those fears, blocks and limiting beliefs.

Next, you need to look at your ideal mindset: the enhancing beliefs, or positive beliefs that you need to have so that you can do the things that you want to do. What do I need to believe about my ability to do Snowdon? I need to believe that I am the kind of person that can do this: I am strong enough to do this, I am confident enough to do something like this, I have the skills, I have the peace of mind and the clarity of mind to know where to put my feet, and where to grab the rock and get over these peaks and I can do it. I think that is possibly one of the biggest, overachiever beliefs that we might need for something like this: I can do this type of event, I can do scary things, I can do big adventures, I can do it. Look at the enhancing beliefs that you need to do this adventure and it helps if you think about the specific adventure that you want to have, or event, and then think about what you need to believe and who you need to be to do those things. And as I said, you need to do the work to shift your mindset, so there are a ton of techniques out there, I talk a lot about PSYCH-K®, there is NLP, tapping, EFT, there are so many things out there (and they are all acronyms!). But I will link to them in the show notes and feel free to ask me if you have any questions because I think different people have different techniques that work for them, and they prefer and yeah you need to find what works for you. I have really found success with PSYCH-K®, with EFT and NLP. I did an episode with Jane Talbot a few weeks or so ago, episode 396, we talked about how to improve your sports mindset and we talked a little bit about NLP in that. So find the technique that works for you, it is not just positive thinking, it is not just, ‘I will think that I am the person that I need to be’, you need to do the work to shift these beliefs at the subconscious level, in order to get the big changes. So, work on your mindset, it has made a massive, massive, shift for me with my running.

And then finally what not to do. And I said earlier, don’t just leap from your comfort zone into what made be your panic zone, without preparing yourself both mentally and physically and you know getting the skills that you need. Don’t just say: I want to do this big thing, this huge thing, that I have never done before and not prepare yourself for it. We were watching this documentary about (I forget what it is called, I will link to it in the show notes), this guy who walked across Antarctica for charity and obviously that was something he had never done before but he was doing it and he totally prepared for it and he still got to challenges and situations that he didn’t even anticipate, but he really prepared for it in terms of getting the skills he needed to do that. And who knows what he did about mindset, he might not have, he certainly prepared physically. So don’t just say, I am going to do this amazing huge thing and then just do it without preparing properly for it, I think that is a really important thing.

Think about the adventures that you want to have, I am not just talking about this year or next year, but in your life. In the next few years or decades of your life, what adventures do you want to have? How far do you want to go? What things do you want to do? What things do you want to do that you don’t think you are capable of? What things do you want to do that you think: oh, I am not the person who does those things, but it looks like fun. Maybe make a list in your journal of all the things that you would like to do, all the adventures you would love to have. Even if you think that you can’t do them, or even if you think you will never do them, or even if you think that you are not the kind of person who does them, make a list and then start working your way through them. Maybe reorder them in order of easy to hard and then just get started on them, and the more you do this, the more you stretch your comfort zone, the more you will learn about your sport or adventure, the more you will learn about yourself, the more you will stretch your mindset into believing that you can do these things and then the big scary things that you thought you would never do, those will get closer and closer and you will start thinking, maybe I could do those things? Maybe I am the person who can do those things. I love examining how outdoor adventure, and adventure in general, helps us to grow as people and helps us to grow our mindset and helps us to evolve and just develop ourselves. And I think this is such a great way of doing it. So, getting the skills you need and getting your mindset in order can help you have even bigger adventures than you thought you might have.

I really, really, hope that this episode inspires you to make that list, of all the things you want to do, and then just start working on it and growing into the kind of person who has these adventures and then having these adventures.

I would love to hear from you, do you have any crazy adventure ideas that you think, there is no way I can do that? Drop me a line and let me know.

You can email at [email protected] or you can find me a line and get in touch there. I would love to hear about your adventure plans, your skills, your dreams, all of the things that you want to do, I would love to hear from you. So please get in touch and I will learn about your adventures.

If you got value from this episode, I would love for you to join me on Patreon, if you head to Patreon.com/HollyWorton, you can join me there. Membership starts at just $1 a month and you get exclusive access to stuff I don’t share anywhere else, depending on the tier you sign up at.

Thank you so much again for listening. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe. And I hope you have some fantastic adventures this week, this month, this year. Remember to visit: HollyWorton.com/411 for the show notes on this episode and happy trails to you.