What is a journey? Why are they important? What do they teach us? I’ll let a recent journey give insight into some potential answers.

The dictionary claims a ‘journey’ to be ‘an act of travelling from one place to another’ while intriguingly the entry for ‘journeyman’ (let’s also include ‘journeywoman’) is ‘a skilled worker who is employed by another’.

I often think of mountain leadership in terms of career guidance. From the basic act of route planning to the skill of navigation, there are lots of overlapping perspectives that help you move from one place to another, or one career to another.

I’d like to build on the dictionary definition. A journey is an act where you become more skilled and insightful as a result of having travelled from one place to another. This could be simply better at using the train than you were, and better at understanding the world around you a little more.

I actually think that taking a journey is the only way to grow as a person. So why are they important? Why do you need to grow?

The second definition offers a clue. Most of us will need to work most of our lives. Gaining abilities and developing them through journeys into skills is a very valuable strategy for maintaining your employability through times of plenty and times of hardship. It can be tempting to think that the internet and remote working offers all the answers, but it can only offer valuable insight if you first take time to understanding yourself and how your mind works and what you value most in life. It will also only work if you are as physically healthy as possible around whatever conditions you have. I would go one step further actually and suggest that if you have ever spent an evening browsing the internet for your next job or career opportunity then the first thing you should do is actually book a weekend away somewhere just for the purpose of reflecting on your job and work life balance. You might be surprised at what you discover along the way. An inspiring book in a second hand store? A chance conversation with someone? A job advert you never would have seen before? Maybe just simply a chance to rest up somewhere new and exciting. The opportunities for a life changing experience when you travel are many. The journey will help you gain perspective that the screen cannot.

A true journey, in my opinion, is an episode of travel which you, and only you, can take because of a unique reason, important to you. A journey is both purposeful and highly susceptible to the unknown. You need to take them because without personal growth, you stand a much higher risk of developing work and life problems. You will also be less able to support your friends, family and partners, when they need you the most. Nobody exists in this world in isolation, we all depend on someone else for something, even if it is just the local shop to buy food. I also believe we only get one chance at life, which means limited time to see the world and all the amazing things it contains. You cannot do every journey, but this does not mean you should go nowhere at all.

Let me give you an example. My car was recently abandoned by me in a place called Tyndrum, in Scotland. It’s about 5 hours from my home. It was left there as I was too ill to drive it. Too physically wrecked to even walk, never mind drive. I had been on the wrong journey as an aspiring winter mountain leader. I gave the keys to someone I’d never met in full trust they would look after it. Sometimes you have to make a judgement call like that.

While I recovered, I had chance to consider my situation and the new problems to solve. How on earth was I going to get it back? It’s winter at the moment, and the chances of it getting snowed in are quite high. Then there was storm Eowyn, a hurricane which hit Scotland very hard. I began wondering why I had a car in the first place.

Various people offered to drive me up to get it, so I could drive it back. I declined all offers. Why? Because I needed to exercise my back every 30 mins which you can’t do in a car but you can do on a train.

I knew it would be a mammoth undertaking. A 7 hour train journey with quick connection times, and a 5 hour drive on roads I was unfamiliar with, quite possibly raining or wintry. I would need to stop every 30 minutes to massage my back, and then when stopped wait 30 minutes before getting back on the road again. Then there was Glasgow to get past – lots of mistakes waiting to be made; the wrong junction and I was in a bad way as my sat nav does not work properly and I had no maps. It would have to be a journey done to perfection. No pressure.

How to prepare for such a journey?

I tested my self on one short train journey before heading up north. My back was sore afterwards but I reckoned with enough exercise it was possible. I would stay two nights in motels on the way back. I also carried with me a brilliant book called The 0.1% by Gareth Timmins which has lots of actionable mental strategies for overcoming large and intimidating tasks. I would pull up into a services station and read a chapter while walking.

I’m pleased to say that through testing the skills required, and using mental strength resources like visualisation and map memory, I was able to do the entire journey without making a single navigational error. And all the trains arrived on time. Massive bonus.

So what did I learn?

I do not need a car, I just need a greater awareness of myself. It would be better for me and the planet if I did not drive it anyway so I am now planning that it should go.

Second, mental strategies for overcoming obstacles genuinely work if applied with consistency and discipline.

Lastly, not all of the journey you take will be tough. The above picture was taken at a service station on the edge of Loch Lomond. It was peaceful, warm, calm and windless. A perfect place to relax and actually enjoy the difficulties rather than worry about them.

I feel I could write a million words on this topic but I’ll leave it there. I hope this blog helps you start your own journey, or gives you the positive push to keep you going on your way.