Not all ideas come from thin air; some come in the form of an opportunity. The idea for me to climb Mount Kilimanjaro didn’t come from just anywhere, although I do have the occasional and inconvenient tendency to say ‘yes’ to proposals without thinking them through carefully but alas I am just not that spontaneous. The actual idea of climbing Kilimanjaro was suggested to me during discussions with my good friend, Dee Jack, and her forthcoming trek up the mountain this October. The idea had been planted but it had not yet seeded in my mind. Each time Dee and I would talk about the details of her trip I grew more intrigued and enthralled by the sheer fulfilment she would find from taking on such a challenge. It never crossed my mind that I could or should do something like that myself until Dee posed the question “well, why don’t you climb Kilimanjaro?”. The question was as simple to ask as my answer was to find. Or was this another one of those responses that I jump on without mulling over thoroughly? Everything after that didn’t involve much rational thinking. Going to Africa and climbing it’s highest mountain is no easy feat and it certainly doesn’t come cheap. But the sense of achievement that I could receive from completing such a monumental journey could become even greater with one major change to my plans.
A lot of charities utilize peoples desire to experience the world by making it more accessible for them. Everything is arranged for you which makes things a whole lot easier but there is a catch. If you want to take part in one of their organised trips you have to raise a substantial amount of money, which is the hard part because it’s got to come from any source of generosity you can find. Unfortunately, there are those who are not willing to empty their pockets of spare change for any cause so it may take a little encouragement. Although, let’s not forget those that will dig really deep and go more than the extra mile. There are so many charities to choose from so how do you choose the right one? Personally, I found choosing my charity the easiest part; easier than deciding I actually wanted to do the trek. Macmillan stood out for me because of the work they do to help people living with cancer. I’ve heard some really heart-warming stories about the help Macmillan have provided and I knew from the start they were the charity I wanted to raise money for.
So that was pretty much the easy part done. For me, I think the hardest part was knowing I had to get in shape and create a healthier lifestyle for myself. Many people have said you don’t have to be the fittest person to climb the mountain but it does help. Like a lot of people, I go through bouts of eating healthily and exercising but I swiftly fall back into my mundane routine of eating crap and doing nothing. It is sheer laziness that leads to an unhealthy lifestyle; not wanting to prepare yourself a good meal and hopping in the car to go barely two miles down the road. It’s wanting to get things done and get them done as quickly as possible. I’ve rediscovered the satisfaction of preparing myself a meal from scratch, knowing what’s going into it and not feeling guilty about eating it afterwards. I work in a precinct of shops that consist of 50% food stores which is the devil in disguise of a grease-ridden burger, a plate of chips covered in a sloppy unappetizing curry sauce or an aisle in the Co-op filled with crisps and chocolate. It’s so much more convenient to nip next door and stock up on pre-prepared sandwiches, crisps, sweet fizzy drinks and chocolate than to allow myself enough time in the morning to make breakfast and lunch. On reflection, I always seem to use the word ‘convenient’ as my excuse for not getting myself organized because in actual fact I can’t be bothered is what I should be saying. I had to force the change and it does take a lot of will-power to say ‘no’ when you drive past a McDonalds or you fancy just the one packet of Chipsticks. That’s half of my problem. It’s much easier for me to say ‘yes’ than it is to say ‘no’. So I’ve stocked up on fruit and vegetable and anything healthy you could think of and I’m actually really enjoying my mealtimes now. Although it’s only been a week, I already have a better sense of well-being and I can go to bed without a rumbling belly and a load of guilt to lay next to. I’ve even lost 5lbs in the last week but I’m assuming that’s just water weight.
There’s no way I could tackle the exterior part of my get-healthy pursuit by myself so I had to find myself a good reputable gym. I found a pretty decent one at the end of Wymondham, still need to use the car to get there though, and they’ve set me up with a mildly rigorous training program which they’re going to update regularly over the next 14 months. I only went that one day last week, which was my induction, and it damn near killed me off. This is definitely going to be the hardest part for me because it’s the one aspect of my imminent change that I can’t control. I’m not one of these ‘gym bunnies’ by far and I don’t like to play any sports so I never get a regular dose of exercise into my lifestyle. I haven’t been back to the gym since that week, because I can’t find the motivation to go back, which is silly because I have an exceptionally good reason to. When I signed up to Kilimanjaro it was in the back of my mind that this could be my excuse to get fit and healthy. If that isn’t enough of an incentive to get into shape then I may as well give up now. I’m being too impatient and expecting things to happen overnight. I can’t force the muscles I’ve never used before to not hurt for the following two days after pulling them about. I just need to get myself into the routine of going to the gym more frequently and I know it’s going to get easier and hopefully less painful. I think I just need a little extra encouragement.
Having said that introducing the gym back into my life was going to be the hardest part, I forgot that I’m giving up smoking. I think my mum is going to more proud of me for giving up smoking than giving her grandchildren some day. This I intend to do on absolute determination alone (quitting smoking, not having children). Mainly because the NHS have been completely unreliable and unhelpful in the matter. I’m not going to phone-stalk them for days until they finally give me an appointment just to tell me that I should give up smoking, which I sussed for myself, and they can stock me up with patches and pills. I’m not a heavy smoker at all but I do tend to indulge in a few more than usual during a couple of whiskies. Smoking is carved into my day-to-day routine and a lot of the time I won’t even think about it. I’ll have one in the morning on my way to work, on a break at work and after my lunch. I’ll usually light one up after any meal of the day. If I can get used to taking that out of my routine then I’m already going to make quitting a lot easier for myself. I do find social situations involving other nicotine-coddlers hard to resist rolling one up but I don’t intend on shutting myself away like some hermit just to avoid this. Again, it’s hard for me to say ‘no’. What I’ve learnt from my past fleeting stints of becoming infatuated with being healthy is that the more I look after my body through exercise the less I want to blemish it further with smoking. So up with the exercising and down with the smoking, right? For every day I go without a cigarette I’m going to reward myself, or Macmillan should I say, with £1. That should give me a little bit of the encouragement I need to quit seeing as it’s for a good cause.
There’s just one more tiny little problem I have to deal with. I hate flying. It’s definitely one of my top three phobias, right up there with clowns and spiders. There isn’t one reason I can identify alone for not liking flying I just really don’t like it. The last time I was on a plane was when I was 16 and I wasn’t overly eager on it then. I think maybe just too much television has turned me into a little bit of phobic? I’m going to Murcia in September to see my little friend Nina Colman, who I haven’t seen in too many years too long, so hopefully that little couple of flights will be enough to relinquish some of my anxiousness. As for the 10+ hours flight to Africa, I will worry about that when I get there. And I mean I will absolutely be worrying about it!
I’ve got approximately 14 months to raise £4,300 and so far I’ve managed to raise £230 on my justgiving webpage. I’d like to say a huge thank you to the people who have sponsored me and a massive thank you to Adam Jaggs for his whopping donation of £200 which has really set the ball rolling. And also my Mum who has been shaking her collection pot at everyone in the office. I’ve got a fantastic support network of friends and family and without them I would never of dreamt that I could climb a mountain; because of them I feel that I can. Everything that is involved in the preparations for this challenge is going to make a colossal change to my life and, as a result, the money I’m aiming to raise is going to make a change to a lot of others. Macmillan is such a tremendous charity, they deserve every penny they get, and I plan on doing so much more to help them after Kilimanjaro. The feeling of pride you get just knowing the difference you’re going to make is really overwhelming and I’d recommend it to anyone. I can’t imagine how much more intense that feeling is going to be once we reach the summit but I can’t wait to find out.
