Happy places

For me, there is no better place to be happy than on top of a mountain!

Maybe that sounds strange, but I'm here to explain.
I spent four months travelling around New Zealand, which was a fantastic
experience. It offered a generous choice of both quiet coastline and
majestic mountains. As a lover of the great outdoors, I took every
opportunity to go hiking. Sometimes I was trekking for three days at a
time, across moorland, through forests and up summits reaching more
than 8,000 feet. There were distinct trails to follow up until a certain point,
and then you had to climb (or crawl!) up any possible route. With the
loose terrain, it often felt like two steps forward and one step back.
However, I find that the physical strain and mental willpower it takes to
reach the summit emphasises the sense of achievement you gain.
Alongside the greatest reward - a spectacular view from the top! It is
surreal to be face to face with the clouds, and looking out at neighbouring
mountains and endless sky. Although I use New Zealand as an example,
it doesn’t always have to be an enormous mountain for me to find that
'happy place'.
When I walk my dog up the hill behind my house in the Scottish Borders,
I get that exact same feeling of peace and a sense of escape. It is the place
I can truly put things into perspective. It is where I am reminded of the
whole wide world that exists beyond me, and my daily routine. It is
where I can physically see how tiny I am in the vast scale of things. When

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I sit at the peak of a mountain 8000 feet high, or up the hill beside the
local golf course in my home town, I get the sense that I am in an entirely
different, completely inspiring world.

Answer the following questions:

Where is your happy place? Why does it make you happy?

Moments of true happiness

For three weeks this summer I decided to leave the hustle and bustle of
London to experience a completely new adventure in Costa Rica. For the
first two weeks I lived with a local family in the capital, San José, whilst
volunteering as an English teacher for adults. I spent my last week on the
Pacific coast in a town called Quepos, a short bus journey from the beach
where I surfed every day.
Whilst I was in Costa Rica, I saw many beautiful places and did some
amazing things. In one weekend I did a zip-lining tour through a jungle
and visited a volcano and several stunning waterfalls. During my final
week I visited Manuel Antonio National Park several times and saw
sloths, iguanas and plenty of monkeys (who love to steal people’s
belongings).
Even though I have countless memories from the trip, there are a few
which I will never be able to forget. I like to call these memories

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moments of true happiness. I define these as moments when my mind
completely lets go of all worries and problems and replaces them with a
feeling of complete happiness.
The first time this happened in Costa Rica was when I went zip-lining.
The final zip-wire was called the ‘superman wire’. On this wire, you wear
a full-body harness and you travel horizontally, instead of in a sitting-up
position. For a couple of minutes I felt like I was flying and I could see
the beautiful jungle beneath me.
It happened again during one of my surf lessons. I had fallen off many
times, but finally I managed to catch a wave with no help from the
instructors. It felt incredible!
The final time it happened was at the end of an afternoon of hiking. It was
a really hot day and I had been walking all the different hiking trails in
the National Park. After a while I stopped at one of the beaches, buried
my bag so the monkeys couldn’t steal it and ran into the water to cool off.
It was the best feeling!
Answer the following question:
Have you had any moments of true happiness? Describe them!

Just do it!

I would like to think of myself as a fairly well-travelled and self-

sufficient individual who is always up for adventure and a good time.
However, every now and then life and routine get in the way and
suddenly the four walls of your room and Netflix become so much more
appealing than anything else. This is especially true when the outside
world speaks in another language that makes communication harder, life
more frustrating and jokes less funny.
There are good days when those foreign words simply roll off the tongue
and other days where I feel like my brain has turned to sludge and cannot
keep up with the pace of the local language. It feels like those dreams
where you run and run but don’t move anywhere. It’s those bad days that
give you that 'I’ll do it another time' attitude. Sometimes you just need to
listen to Nike and just do it. Go to that party you’ve been invited to. Take
that dance class you’ve signed up for. Make the most of the time you’ve
been given, particularly when it is the wonderful experience that is living
abroad.

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I have experienced the negativity of not wanting to do something because
I could not be bothered or because communicating in a foreign language
was too much effort. Yet, the moments when I forced myself to do
something and take the opportunity I had been given turned out to be my
best moments. I have found that self-improvement in all forms comes
from the small changes and the positive attitude we adopt in life. Do
something every day that brings you closer to your goals and don’t sit on
the sidelines. If you want to become more fluent in a language, listen to
the radio more. If you want to finish that novel you started, read a page. If
you want to lose weight, take the stairs. If you want to make the most of
your time abroad then seize every opportunity you can and don’t be put
off by a language or cultural barrier. The expression 'you reap what you
sow' is a perfect for anyone living in a new environment and learning a
new language because you will only improve with effort, time and
practice.
Answer the following question:

How do you stay motivated even when you don’t feel like it?