How walking 1,000 miles can change your life

As I sat on top of Pen Y Fan and poured myself a tea from my flask, I took in the Welsh countryside spread out around me and thought to myself ‘I can’t remember a time when I felt so free.’

This feeling of freedom isn’t something that comes easily to me. Having lived with OCD and Generalised Anxiety Disorder the whole of my adult life, my brain and body are used to living in a tightly controlled state of being. My anxiety was made even worse during the Covid-19 pandemic and I’m not surprised to find that according to Mind, 65% of adults with mental health problems have said it’s got worse since the first national lockdown.

Before the pandemic, I’d learned to live with my mental health condition fairly well and although it still affected me, it didn’t stop me living my life. But once the first lockdown hit and we were being told we had to stay inside, things started to go downhill. OCD makes me feel incredibly out of control and living through an unprecedented situation where no one had any form of control was terrifying. I tried desperately to keep control of as many things as I could and saw it as my ‘duty’ to keep me and my husband safe from the germs and contamination all around us.

I washed and sanitised my hands constantly, scrubbed every surface with bleach and washed and Dettol-wiped everything that came into the house. I couldn’t hug or be near anyone which meant even going for a walk became impossible as I struggled to find routes where I could guarantee I wouldn’t see people. Life became closed in and I became increasingly more anxious and withdrawn.

Fast forward to the end of 2021 and a world ever so slowly returning to some form of normality. Throughout 2020 and 2021 I’d started taking medication and gone to therapy sessions to help me cope with the way I was feeling and as a result, I’d started to take my first tentative steps back into ‘normal life’. It was at this time I came across Country Walking Magazine’s walk 1,000 miles challenge and decided 2022 was the year I’d walk 1,000 miles.

Walking those 1,000 miles has been emotional, exhilarating and life changing. It’s taught me a few things along the way too:

• Blisters are my new best friend (well they’re not but I’ve had to learn to live with them!).
• Walking 36 miles in a day will break you. Back in May I walked from Corfe Castle to Weymouth along the Jurassic coast and whilst it was incredibly rewarding, it took me 15 hours and afterwards I couldn’t move for the next 2 days!
• Rest days are just as important as walking days.
• The UK is stunningly beautiful and there are so many amazing places to discover.
• Getting lost is ridiculously easy but it does add on a few extra miles.
• Life is for living.
• OCD and anxiety no longer rule my life.

I have a new joy for life I never thought possible – I look forward to getting outside and feel like I’ve got my independence and my life back. While I might not walk 1,000 miles in 2023, walking has become a key part of my daily routine and is something I’ll always prioritise for my mental health.