A year ago I was packing my bags and anxiously awaiting a move to the other end of the country. I’d booked a 3 month outdoor instructor course during lockdown, after separating from my husband and selling the house. I had no real plan, I just knew that I needed to be somewhere different, breathe a different air and try to find a part of me that I’d lost somewhere along the way,
I’ve had a lot of conversations with friends recently around ‘happiness’ and how sometimes it can be really difficult to identify the things that make us happy. When I was going through my seperation, I had lost sight of what it was to be happy. I was searching for it in all the wrong places and then wondering why I didn’t feel content in the life that I had. I sat with my thoughts and tried to remember the last time I’d felt pure joy. The memory that popped into my head was a holiday to Wales I went on with my school friends, we hired paddle boards and had a beautiful beach all to ourselves. We went out on the water for hours, we laughed and messed about and in that moment, I was so god damn happy. I think this is what spurred me on to book the course, to be by the sea.
Between booking the course and making the move down south, my life changed a lot. We came out of lockdown, I was in a relationship and we spent the summer travelling around the UK. Unfortunately, things weren’t quite smooth sailing and the move became a pretty negative experience. By the time I made it down to Cornwall I was in a terrible place emotionally. The first few months were rocky, I wasn’t the greatest company, yet somehow the people around me were so kind, supportive and caring and helped bring me back to myself.
I started going for swims most mornings. It gave me space to clear my head and have a moment of peace and calm, no matter what head space I was in. Dipping introduced me to so many difference people and helped me build up a community around me. My initial plan was to come down for the three months, do the course, then head back up north and get a job using the skills I’d learnt. But after my relationship broke down, I realised I wanted to stay. There was so much down here I wanted to explore, people I wanted to spend more time with and I thought it would be a waste not to experience a Cornish summer.
Staying was the best decision I ever made. I may not have used any of the qualifications I got, but this year has been about far more than a course. I have made friendships that will last a lifetime, I’ve explored, camped and hiked miles of the coastline, I’ve learnt so much about myself and found a calm in the sea that I’ve never felt before. Those crisp, winter morning swims as the sun was rising, the summer cool offs, the sunset dips. I’ve never felt more alive.
I can’t explain how much I’m going to miss being so close to the water. I have been so lucky to have it on my doorstep and I’m so glad that I’ve made the most of it whilst I’ve been here. I struggle to explain to people the benefits I feel from being in the water, but a while back I tried to put in into words in my post about how my daily dips helped my mental health.
As I was writing this post, I was looking back at my post from when I first moved down here, reflecting on my first few weeks. It reminds me what a terrible headspace I was in at the time but at the same time I feel excitement for me not knowing how many incredible moments there were to come.
I’m so proud of myself for how much I’ve achieved over the last year. I’ve put myself in situations I would never have dreamed of, pushed myself so far out of my comfort zone, grown my confidence massively and finally managed my first solo camp. But, the mountains are calling. I want to be closer to my family, to hear more of my grandad’s stories of growing up in the Lake District, to be around my nephew who’s growing up far too fast, to catch up with friends that I haven’t seen in far too long, to go see the sunset on Shuttlingsloe. Cornwall isn’t going anywhere, and in the back of my mind I know that if things don’t work out then I can come back. There is still so much I want to explore down here and I will definitely be visiting as regularly as I can manage.
Thank you so much to everyone who made my time in Cornwall so special. I can easily say that it has been the best year of my life to date and I don’t regret a single part of it. If anything, it’s taught me to live more in the moment, take those chances and go with the flow.
Until next time Cornwall.
Happy adventuring x
Lisa Outdoors 
On to the next adventure.
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