Attitude

You don’t need a parachute. It’s just been proven. And I’m excited. Which means I’m probably feeling better. Had some man flu over the last few days. I wasn’t feeling super excited.

So yesterday I was sick as a dog. Could not be bothered even showering. “Yuck” says wife. She’s right (for once). Still not feeling that hot, actually. I know from experience that when you’re low, it’s important to protect your energy.

Don’t base how committed you are to doing something on momentary success or failure. An attitude of “well, I’ll keep doing it as long as I am good at it” will never result in anything. Everything that you do will have good and bad days – Days when everything seems to be swimming along magically

Did you see the Ju jitsu guy from New Zealand who got kidnapped by policemen in Brazil and taken to a money machine so he could be relieved of a chunk of cash? Go Rio! he wrote. He’s not competing – his sport isn’t at the Olympics. But when you go to something like the

The greatest skill you can have in the outdoors is a cast iron mindset. One that means you can be super focussed on the thoughts that you want to let in, ignoring the doubts, the thoughts that you can’t and you’ll get hurt. My biggest challenge in the outdoors has always been overcoming the fears

Life is a curious thing. As humans we spend a lot of time running around in circles, not really getting to the heart of the matter. Just missing the point, only just. We say happiness is the most important thing, yet don’t really know how to be happy. I mean truly happy, always happy, constantly

Classic line from Top Gun. “Your ego’s writing cheques your body can’t cash” We used to say that to each other all the time with mock seriousness. A great reminder too. Went kayaking a few weeks ago (dam release), and there was a friend of a friend who came along. Nice guy, but he loved

(Photo: Catherine Opie/NY Times) Diana Nyad has her autobiography out very soon. If you’ve never heard of her, I’m not surprised. At 64 she is the only person to ever swim the 110 miles from Cuba to Florida. That’s more than 5 times the Channel. 53 hours without sleeping or stopping. But where the Channel

I was in town yesterday and saw a young lady with the Red Bull logo tattooed on the base of her neck. Huge, it was. I know it gives you wings, and is all about pushing the boundaries and being extreme and all that but isn’t doing that like getting Coca Cola tattooed on you?

There was a comment raising this very question on the good old Facebook, where I have been telling all and sundry about this FREE mental fitness trial for outdoor fellows … All ye who love getting out and about, maybe in a boat, maybe on wheels, maybe on some kind of slidey planks, maybe just