Fitlifecamper

I first created this site to blog about my trips in my Campervan, which is a marvellous idea of mine, I must say! First, it was a community for sharing stories (details on the front home page). As the name suggests, I want to incorporate health and fitness, being in love with keeping fit. Those are the few goals I have right now, but I have other ideas in the pipeline.  

Could I have even done this last year?  Not a chance.  I was scared of my own shadow.

If you can take one thing away from this website and feel stuck in a rut right now, as I often did,  I invite you to do something about it right here, right now. Start following your dreams, and say cheerio to any fears holding you back.  

Why am I telling you this?

It's meant to be a blogging site about camping, Lewis! 

Well, I'm going back to my rut last year and wanting to be different this year, 2024. I want to make changes and be the best version of myself, so I would feel irresponsible if I can't help you out, too!

I'm still on this ongoing journey.  I'm "learning on the tools" as I go along. Yes, I get things wrong.  I Fail and make mistakes,  but the one thing for sure is that now I push myself more than ever.  Before, I happily bumbled around in some comfort zone, which wasn't a nice place.

For instance, I loved my previous job. Every day was different, and it involved quality—an audit job. However, I would only take engineering measurements and create reports in my workshop. There was no opportunity for growth, and that's it. That nagged me.

I applied for a new job as a technical supervisor, which is still within my department but with a lot more responsibility. I got the role and was pleased with myself for pushing myself and getting through a job interview where I hadn't been to one in 20 years. Naturally, I was nervous during the interview, as we all are.

I managed to power through the interview, and there were many candidates with more experience than me. I felt proud of myself!

But then, when I started the job, my brain went into negativity overdrive! The reason? I now have to manage a team, attend large meetings, train and teach people on specialist equipment and maintain it for daily use. It was quite a step up from my old job!

Negativity came and hit me like a tonne of bricks.  My brain started yelling at me:  "You've never been to a meeting before; you will say the wrong thing or stutter.  You're going to be useless." "There's no way you can teach people".  That lab equipment is too complex for what you're capable of; you'll never grasp it.    For some reason, I told myself I didn't deserve this job.  I had to go out to gain evidence and prove my brain wrong. Small daily wins, practice, proving myself, and showing up for myself started gaining confidence and belief.

The next terrifying thing was buying the Campervan.  (A strange thing to be nervous about, I must admit!). The nagging and fear of my brain decided to ask: Where do I go?  With friends?  Alone?  Do I need to meet new people? You don't venture too far away from your home town, Lewis! Just stay put!  

Then I bumped into my cousin Anna on my stepmum's 60th birthday.

I noticed Anna got away a lot by looking at her Facebook pictures, so I asked her about it.  "Anna, are you always away, paddle boarding, walking, or camping?  How are you doing these things?"  "You're meeting a lot of people."

She said she joined several Facebook groups for socials and activities: " I'll send you an invite to a few groups.

New Adventures

It wasn't until March that I took my Campervan on the first outing, along with my cousin Anna, who was also in her Campervan. Was the Campervan going to make it? It almost blew up in Wales, with smoke billowing out the engine! 

Anna and I joined a group, and we were going to climb Pen Y Fan (click here for Pen Y Fan), which turned out to be a lot of fun. There must have been around 40 of us in the whole group, all hiking in convoy. We were all strangers, but 6 of us became close and formed a little friendship group.

This is where most of my adventures began. We go away, hike, paddleboard, and just have whatever good times in the open come our way! I think there have now been around five trips where we have all got together. 

I started getting away a lot myself, and I thought, "Well, this is a great life—waking up by some mountain range, a beach, even a roadside!" So I wanted to start writing about my trips, and I created FITLIFECAMPER.

FITLIFECAMPER is much more than camping trips and adventures; it's also about confronting your fears.  Something I'm trying to do myself, so dear readers. We will smash goals together. We will have fun together.  

So, calling all readers, please write about your dreams, camping trips, life experiences, and tips. 

Oh, and buy a super cool hoody.

Lew x