Is your anxiety holding you back? Maybe you dream of embarking on an expedition or taking on a challenge, but your fears stop you from even trying. Eventually, you find yourself in a comfortable, everyday routine but those dreams of adventure are still there. How do you overcome your fears and anxiety to get out there? Paula McGuire is an anxiety survivor, unlikely adventurer, and author of Must Try Harder. Despite growing up with anxiety from childhood, Paula turned her life

Paula McGuire's world was shrinking. Bullied as a child and plagued by excessive social anxiety, she had become a recluse. Unable to even go into a shop on her own, Paula's life was effectively over before she hit thirty. But then something changed. She isn't even quite sure what. But after years of running away from life, Paula decided to make a change, and decided to face up to her fears. Paula gave herself less than 2 years to try all 17 Commonwealth Games sports! After le

When taking on physical challenges, you can be sure that a fair amount of pain is coming your way. But pain can also come with emotional challenges like depression. Nikki Kimball is an American Professional Ultra Runner who has faced both mental and physical pain and made it through. Despite these difficulties, Nikki has won some of the biggest races out there including the Marathon des Sables, Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, and the Western States 100. Over 17 years, she’s had a

Hope Virgo suffered with anorexia for over 4 years, before being admitted to a Mental Health Hospital in 2007. She lived in the hospital for a year, fighting one of the hardest battles of her life. Since being discharged, she has fought to stay well. Hope has now written about her journey with anorexia, in her book, Stand Tall Little Girl. Hope uses her experiences of mental health illness to champion the rights of others, inspire them to get well, and help break the stigma o

Suzy Favor Hamilton is a 3X Olympic Runner, Best-Selling Author of Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness, and mental health advocate. Her unique story comes from striving for perfection to falling into destruction and coming out on the other side. From her many heart-wrenching, powerful experiences, Suzy shares life lessons of living an imperfect life and advocating for mental health. 1. Eating Disorders Have Nothing to Do with Food From the beginning, Suzy put an enor

I learnt to swim underwater first. Then I went through the standard school lessons with the stand out session being jumping into the pool with clothes on. Then got on with land based sports. But water is part of me. My Grandmother was a long-distance sea swimmer, my cousins love swimming. I have always loved water, I’ve lived by the sea since I left home at 19 and I’m the first one to paddle in a mountain stream on a walk. Water soothes and restores me. However, although I co

Tough Girl Tribe Thursday Blog #TribeThursday Every Thursday, we champion the writing of women from the Tough Girl Tribe; blogs, poems, thoughts and stories. The aim of Tough Girl Challenges has always been to create a platform for women's voices about the outdoors and sport and now we can hear even more of them. My three year mission to the top of Ben Nevis My Ben Nevis story started a long time ago. In 2013/14, my mental health had declined enough for me to voluntarily agre

As a college student, typically you seldom get to actually physically experience what you’re learning. About two weeks into my creative media course I was handed a piece of paper and told to write down my contact details and some things I enjoy doing or want to pursue in the future, this was all in aid of getting a suitable placement for work expeirence. I won’t lie, I didn’t have a lot of hope. My head was filled with horror stories of people getting work experience that did