Start where you are... Under the stairs!
Welcome to the Peakeze blog, “Under The Stairs.” I hear you ask, why under the stairs? Because that is where the journey begins, at home, under my stairs. My control centre, it is the Peakeze hub, where the magic happens… If it happens!
My hope, my vision for this blog is that it becomes a go to source of information for all walkers and hikers. The plan is to have information around local and not so local walks, product reviews and just to generally keep the readers up to speed with the latest developments in walking and hiking. I wanted to start this series of blogs off by trying to explain why I got into walking and hiking, the outdoors had a massive pull for me, I have always been quite outdoorsy.
Having left school with an OK education (I spent too much time outdoors!) I kind of drifted into a sales career. Did I ever enjoy it? Actually, no I don’t think I ever have or ever will but I persevered and I actually became quite good at it. The major plus of sales, it is probably one of the best paid, unskilled jobs out there, however that’s changing, as the world we live in does, at pace. My natural talent for talking to people and extracting information from them would get me so far, now though every person I talk to is very wary of having a conversation with a sales person. As I slipped further and further behind the curve of learning (it never was my strong point) that is now required to be a successful sales muppet (as they are lovingly known). It became increasingly frustrating, irritating and down right stressful! No longer driven by greed and money, for many years I fantasised about a different direction, “there has got to be more to life than this S@*T.”
What are you rambling on about Rob? What’s that got to do with walking!?
Well I always found solace, comfort and clarity when I was walking. Walking in the rain! Oh Yes! “It cleanses the soul.” A walk surrounded by nature and I’m at peace, mindful, in that moment, stresses, frustrations, fears, evaporate into a state of ultimate calm. It is great exercise too, it helps that I can walk all day without too much of a problem, I always have been able to. I can’t run to the end of my street, but walking is not a problem, all week if necessary!
After being diagnosed with Sleep Apnoea in 2018 and subsequently being issued with a cpap machine, which is basically an electric tyre pump for humans! It keeps your airways under constant pressure and allows you to breathe properly through the night. Sleep apnoea, for those that don’t know, is where your airways close up and you pause breathing in your sleep. It disturbs your sleep but you never know it’s happening and apparently it can be life threatening. So 2 weeks into sleeping with the aid of cpap, with a renewed vigour and slightly less lethargy than I had got used to over the last 10 or so years, I decided I needed a challenge! Then it came to me THE NATIONAL 3 PEAKS I even found some pals who were crazy enough to have a go as well. So we set the date and started our training and do you know what? I actually enjoyed it, more than that though I had a brand new lust for life (I bet Iggy Pop came into your head then, or Trainspotting) but walking was actually making me feel better! My synapses fired up again, things (as stupid as it sounds) looked brighter, smells were more pungent and guess what I started performing better at work! All those great things and I was spending more time with my good pals training, laughing, joking and as blokes do, taking the mick out of each other. Over this time period I had developed a passion for walking, we did the National 3 Peaks, completed in just over 23 hours and other challenges followed, there will be more soon when we get let out again!
I felt that I had a duty to spread the word about my experience walking the myriad of benefits it brings and get more people doing it. Peakeze was born, this is my platform to raise awareness that there is another way to get fit, get healthy, feel better, perform better and build better relationships with friends, family etc. Oh and we do sell some products on the website as well.
Give it a try, go and have a 30 minute walk at the very least you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something. All I can talk about is my experience, I am well aware it will not have the same affect on everyone but give it a go, “Walking Works!”
Thanks for reading, if you got this far I salute you! Well until next time where I will start to delve in more detail around the various benefits of walking and I’ll tell you a bit about my most recent expeditions and what I’ve got planned post lockdown.