Be brave and empower yourself

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• Fit Retreats
• Garlands nightclub
• Newyou bootcamp

Posted by Samantha Castle on April 19, 2010 2:42 PM

FOR, many women, completing a tough physical challenge is about more than just reaching the end goal, its a life-affirming event.
Do you sometimes feel that there might be more to you than meets the eye? More you could be doing with your life than you are already? I do.
In between somewhere climbing to the top of the career ladder, living the perfect love story and raising a brood of shiny, happy offspring, a new kind of modern wonder woman is emerging who doesn't give a dame what anyone thinks and is taking cues from the heroines of history.
They are popping up everywhere, these woman, primed for blisters and bad hair in pursuit of doing something more worthwhile with their lives, be it running the London marathon for the first time, or trekking in China for charity, to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro just for the achievement of it. This year's Sport Relief was bursting with impressive feats by small-screen stars you'd never have expected if from- a 1,000-mile cycle ride from John O'Groats to Lands End by Divina McCall and Fearne Cotton. Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton kayaking the length of the Amazon on her own, TV presenter Christine Bleakley water-skiing the Channel, Cheryl Coal climbing Kilimanjaro and not forgetting little Ellen MacArthur sailing round the world single-handed.
Have you ever tried anything Brave? I have. I attended a military bootcamp in the Brecon Beacons where I was put through my paces for a week of 12-hour days of exercise at the hands of ex-British army instructors in a bid to overcome a whole list of personal fears including climbing mountains, abseiling down waterfalls, running, spending 12-hours a day exercising and cutting out alcohol in order to drop a dress size. But apart from the weight loss results, myself and the other women on the week-long regime formed a unique bond after overcoming our fears and facing adversity together and most of us are still in touch today.

I have also learned to play a guitar, to pole-dance (see previous blog posts) and will soon be trying off-road driving in a Range Rover in the wilds of Snowdonia!
Being empowered is about achieving your dreams and about daring yourself to do more.
"We're so routine-driven," according to psychologist Celia d-Felice, who has recently published a book called Dare To Be You.
"If it isn't always work and family its another habit that we can't get out of. It becomes difficulty to imagine another reality."
Its all about conquering fear or conquering your fear of fear.
Recently, Germaine Greer wrote in The Times arguing that the feminist revolution was only just starting. She said we are only now inspecting our own futures and taking charge.
So if your 20's are for working out who you are in relation to other people, your 30's are for working out who you are in relation to yourself. This makes your 40's a triumph, and not only because you have found the perfect colourist! We girls are past mistresses at finding excuses not to do things for ourselves. But now more than ever we should be showing our children what we're made of.
Why dine out on old stories when you can spin new ones, physical challengers are wonderful- nothing feels as good as freedom tastes.
If you need inspiration just look at these past great female adventurers.
Sylvia Earle- oceanographer and explorer, she led the first female team of aquanauts, set a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 meters and has walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any other human before or since. At 75, she had 15 honorary degrees, authored 150 scientific publications and led more than 70 expeditions.
Dian Fossey- zoologist, conservationist and author of Gorillas in the Mist, she did more to reconfigured out understanding of gorillas than anyone else before of since. Her last ever diary entry read: "When you realise the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrated on the preservation of the future."
Amelia Earthart- aviator and pioneer and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She always maintained that men and women were equal in jobs requiring intelligence, co-ordination, speed and willpower.
On a lighter note- dancing is also very good for you, not just keeping you fit and burning calories but also by producing happy hormones. I was very brave, some might say foolish, at the weekend when I went nightclubbing with my cousin, who is 10 years my junior. But we had an amazing couple of hours at gay-friendly Liverpool nightclub Garlands. We dancing non-stop for two hours and came away feeling enlightened. Thanks to the management at Garlands nightclub, Eberle Street, Liverpool.
www.garlandsnightclub.com

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