From Tomboy and Tree Climber to Nature Lover and Adventure Seeker

I always felt the most alive, most free and most me when I was engrossed in nature.

At the end of 2021, my grandma passed away and it got me thinking and reminiscing on times spent with at.

Now, I was the stepgrandchild. When I was young I didn't know that concept or what that meant so it didn't even matter, not until I got older and it was a reason for my feelings of "not good enough." Not from anything my grandma did. On the contrary, she was one of the most wonderful people I had ever met. She always made me feel exactly the same as all the other grandchildren including my (step) sister who was the exact same age as me.

My grandparents lived in a farm community and they had some land. So much space for the youngster to run around on and play. There were Alpaca's next door who would come and say hello over the fence, an energetic springer spaniel who'd run alongside us, gardens, and my favourite part, trees!

I was what was called a tomboy. I hated wearing dresses, doing my hair, sitting still. I was all for passing a baseball around or passing a soccer ball, biking next to my dad while he was on a run and eventually running with him. But my favourite thing was climbing trees.

Wow, did I ever love climbing tree's.

I'd kick off my shoes and socks and scramble on up, clumsily with my long gangly limbs. I wasn't super tall but I always had arms and legs that seemed a little too long for my body.

I loved climbing right to the top. Being the highest of all the other kids playing at grandma and grandpas.

Up at the top, I felt free. I felt like I didn't have to worry or be a part of the "real world" down below. I never felt like I fit in. I wasn't what people expect and never knew how to meet the expectations. But at the top of the tree... That didn't matter.

I was in my own world.

Fast forward to now.

I still feel like I can't meet society's expectations and desperately want to escape the "real world." I still don't fit in and I've now fully embraced the world "misfit" to beautifully describe this.

I don't want to fit in now but sometimes society's pressure and expectations are overwhelming and difficult.

So the place that I go to escape all that and feel free, alive and connected with myself is once again nature.

I can't really describe why this is. Why I've always felt so at peace and so myself in nature.

I feel a connection with nature. Like as much as I love nature it loves me even more. We understand each other when it feels like no one else understands me and we mutually respect and protect one another.

In 2020, I got into hiking and it is my favourite activity.

Some hikes even have a climbing aspect and it takes me back to my days of tree climbing in my grandparent's yard.

I love being amongst the trees, touching them as I go past, feeling the life they have, breathing in their sweet scents. Then emerging at the top.

Feeling that jolt of excited victory at making it to the top and having my breath taken away from the expanse in front of me. There is something so exhilarating about standing at the top of a mountain, above the entire world, looking out as far as the eye can see.

Now as an almost 30 year old who has been through a few years of this pandemic, I feel more than ever the urge to find adventure like this. I feel so blessed to be able to live in such a breathtaking place. The Lekwungan traditional territory is blessed with so many different types of environments in one place; ocean views, mountains, forests, beaches, everything you could want. As a settler, I feel it is my responsibility to protect and love this beautiful place.

I have always loved nature. It has been everything I have ever needed. The only place I feel the most myself, the most alive. I think this reason is why I feel so strongly about the 'sustainability' part in my coaching practice.

Knowing that this was not my family's original home (and fairly recently too. My mom's mother was born in Northern Ireland) and feeling such deep love for the nature around me and being extremely grateful for all nature has given me has affirmed this feeling of responsibility.

Every day I act from a mindset of 'how can I give back more than what has been given to me?' When I climbed to the top of the tree and looked out and how when I climb to the top of a mountain and feel that rush of energy I know I have a responsibility to take care of everything I see.

I may just be one person but if I can impact even one other person I've doubled the impact I have in this world.

Interested in learning more about Sustainability and creating a more healthy and eco-friendly home? Grab a FREE copy of my resource guide here.