Get Outdoors For Positive Change

The first steps to personal development can start with an outdoor challenge.

- Ngaire Newland

All too soon, another great NZ summer is drawing to a close. The new year is well underway and we’re heading back to work, swapping unspoiled beaches and wilderness for urban landscapes and the daily commute.

It’s a time that draws into focus the changes we would like to make in our lives: the things we want to do differently and the behaviours we want to change. Indeed, you might already have made your 2018 New Year resolutions and stuck to them. But there’s a good chance you haven’t. I believe that, in theory, change seems easy. But in reality, it is often not. While willpower alone might work for some, on the whole, it is a poor way of making change. Hit some stress or a temptation great enough, and willpower can go out of the window.

There are many theories on how to change, and just as many people out there who are very happy to tell you how they turned their lives around; if you just do it their way, you will be fine, too. However, what I say is that if you tap into your adventurous spirit, there are numerous ways to help facilitate the change you want in your life.

Two of the key steps to making positive changes are:

Increasing your self-awareness

Discovering your own path

These are both steps that are fostered naturally through adventure sports. This means that for the adventurous, an inner change can begin with something as simple and enjoyable as an outdoor challenge.