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Overcoming Adversity: A Journey from Depression to Outdoor Cooking Mastery with the Fell Foodie
47 Plays11 months ago
Harrison Ward is better known as Fell Foodie.
He’s an inspirational speaker, outdoorsman and cook who loves to recreate restaurant-style meals on minimal equipment (usually a camp stove) in remote locations.
He has a vast following across various social media platforms and has featured regularly in the media including Channel 5 and BBC. He regularly delivers talks about his personal battle with depression, suicidal thoughts and alcohol highlighting a journey from an overweight, alcoholic, smoker to the fit, mountain-loving foodie he is today.
This is what Dame Mary Berry DBE said about him - "Great, classy food".
We talked about:
- His journey and his catalyst for change
- What he needed in order to support the change
- What challenges he encountered
- What habits he developed
- What sustained his change
- And tips for someone wanting to get healthier and fitter
His debut book is Cook Out: Fell Foodie’s Guide to Over 80 Gourmet Recipes to Cook in the Great Outdoors.
Recommended
Transcript
Starting Anew: Embracing the Beginner's Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
There's a lot of theory about habits and change. You've been there done it. What would be a key thing that you would offer to the world? We've got a fear of being beginners. A lot of us do something that's trying to renew where when we're younger, it's kind of you throw yourself into these scenarios with that sort of blind faith and blind optimism in a way where as we get a bit older, it's kind of going, oh, I can't start that again because I'll be at the bottom of the ladder and everyone's going to be better than me. I don't want to look as if I'm that one, but we've all got to learn. We've all got to make mistakes on the way up.
00:00:27
Speaker
But that was always the inner battle. Each day was kind of not worrying about the outside perception, not worrying about being a beginner, not worrying about failure, because you make those steps and you carve that path by taking that first step.
Introducing 'The Visible Leader' Podcast
00:00:42
Speaker
Welcome to The Visible Leader, the podcast that challenges conventional leadership and inspires you to create a workplace culture that empowers your team.
00:00:54
Speaker
Join me as I talk to thought leaders and changemakers about practical ways to apply new learning and rethink the status quo. Get ready to become a visible leader in your organization.
The Fell Foodie: Passion for Food and Hiking
00:01:11
Speaker
Really nice to meet you, Harrison Board, aka the Phil Foodie. My husband's really jealous that I'm interviewing you.
00:01:21
Speaker
And he would be sat here prodding me with questions that are totally irrelevant to the subject that we're going to be talking about. But he's just basically super interested in what you do because during lockdown, he started going out in the woods randomly, started cooking lunch.
00:01:41
Speaker
He didn't make a career of it, but when I told him what you do and everything, he was super interested. So for people that haven't come across you yet, what do you do Harrison?
00:01:54
Speaker
Well, firstly, thank you for having me and I'm sure we can get your husband on after the call maybe and get some questions. Most recall, no problem at all. But yeah, my name is Harrison Ward, also known as the fell foodie, basically around up here in the north in the Lake District, we tend to call the hills fells, and my love of food being merged together with that passion of hill walking and hiking.
From Hobby to Career: Harrison's Organic Growth
00:02:14
Speaker
So I'm best known these days for taking my camping stove up into the mountains in the Lake District where I'm from and trying to prepare sort of restaurant-style meals out and about, taking in those wonderful natural vistas from those tops. So again, a bit of a hobby.
00:02:29
Speaker
at first that sort of turned into and you mentioned career there in the intro. I'm not sure I'm quite quite that far but I'm certainly making those steps and seeing how we can make this work as a full-time entity now but it's been a very organic journey that I'm sure we'll go into but something really stemmed really from a passion and a need for a need for change. Yeah absolutely. Yeah I don't think my husband's managed restaurant style food yet but you know he's having a go.
00:02:56
Speaker
So, you know, we could take this conversation a number of different places and the theme of my podcast is about either kind of challenging some of those conventional wisdoms about leadership.
00:03:09
Speaker
or talking to people that have done it.
Growing Up in Cumbria: A Disconnect from Nature
00:03:14
Speaker
So they've actually done something which other people might look at and go like, how did you make that happen? So it could be something in business. It could be about personal shift and yours is quite a transformation. So that's the theme. It's going to be about change and how you did what you did and how you kept the changes that you implemented. Because I think that's kind of universal really.
00:03:39
Speaker
Let's start by hearing a little bit about your journey, really, how it all started.
00:03:47
Speaker
Okay, the full life story then, let's get it condensed in. Nice and short. Have you got a minute? Brilliant still. No, but as you say, there are of course always synergies across this sort of thing, through business and personal, through change, as it goes. And although it might be a very different scenario as an individual, there of course can be things taken from that. But for me, I guess when I was brought up in Cumbria, just north of the Lake District, not really embracing what I had on my doorstep,
00:04:14
Speaker
in my younger years that's quite sort of real upbringing like sort of sports outdoors but never really went out.
00:04:20
Speaker
into the hills or outdoors there, other than maybe sort of tea and coffee in Keswick on sort of a day trip with my mum and sister really. And it was all quite a happy life, there's no trauma points at this moment, but really I found myself going through a major change at first around sort of puberty as many do, so that hormonal change going into adolescence. But for me, the main change here, of course, physically a lot of change, but mentally I also found myself completely different almost overnight.
Adolescent Struggles: A Solitary Battle
00:04:48
Speaker
going from this quite extroverted character, someone that, you know, could hold a conversation with a lot of people, focused on my studies, to really all of a sudden being plagued, I guess, by this self-lobing, this demotivation, insecurity, and really almost like a doppelganger inside, kind of not the person I believed I was, and sort of fighting this alternative personality that was now sort of fighting internally.
00:05:13
Speaker
in my own head. And it was something that I kept very much to myself. I didn't see it as something I want to put on other people. I didn't want to be a burden sharing sort of my down times what I was going through. So I basically put on this mask, give you well, I guess this this this other version, which was still me, of course, but sometimes was slightly false based on how I was actually feeling to not really bring down friends, family, I suppose, teachers at that time, or later in life, other people that I met along my path.
00:05:40
Speaker
Now through this I started working like the hospitality trade as well. I've got a job through my studies around the similar age of 13, 14 initially just washing pots in the kitchens, moving on to waiting on before finding a job behind the bar at 18.
Hospitality and the Love for Food
00:05:54
Speaker
Now through this time I had a bit of a passion for food. I enjoyed the fact that
00:05:58
Speaker
food brought people together i love cooking with my grandma from a young age but a lot of time with her as a mom work nights as a nurse in the infirmary so a lot of time they're learning what made nice dishes and also that feeling of bringing the family together that we kind of moved away from slightly.
00:06:13
Speaker
of bringing people around that kitchen table to share almost how their day has gone and that community feel that again even in the workplace sometimes I think we sometimes miss because we have the individual almost lunches or popping out a bit rather than that almost communal type feel and if it is it almost feels like it's still
00:06:30
Speaker
an extended version of work rather than a break time almost. It's kind of a let's carry on what we're doing in the office or the whatever scenario you're in. But 18 behind the bar again as many 18 a writer passage very much a British culture as well discovering really the world of alcohol from both points of view from serving it to people meeting different walks of life coming into that environment but also myself socializing now with this
00:06:54
Speaker
that's liquid of course and finding that quite a sort of nice path and I sort of social lubricant, Dutch courage and something that was really silent in those those thoughts in my own head and allowing me to be that person that I believe I actually was right at the start and that that person without the mask in a way. So quite quickly this became something I liked the sensation of, wanted more of and basically went out more and more under that guise of being social alongside my studies at the time.
00:07:21
Speaker
But of course, I was using this quite medicinally now as a tool for my own head again still not speaking out while I was going through feeling very alone feeling like I was the only person suffering from this and moving away to university quite quickly finding myself back in that environment working once again hospitality now sort of managing sort of a system manager of this place pub in the town.
00:07:41
Speaker
with hotel, with the kitchen side. So there's all a bit of a mix there going on with the food side too, but really using that as an easy access point, I guess, now for this tool that I was using personally.
00:07:53
Speaker
And around my 21st birthday there, so I've been in York for a couple of years now. By this point, I was drinking most days by the time I moved there, but working in the environment there, especially for university as well, meeting new people through that freshers environment, all alcohol fueled. Again, that British culture is always well around. That sort of mix.
Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism
00:08:13
Speaker
I found things really began to sort of snowball for me. And this initial guide, this medicinal tool was now becoming quite a poison for me.
00:08:20
Speaker
I'm going to wait about twenty two stone a biggest i was drinking in excess of twenty pints a day working for out the day highly functioning in the public environment i even take some smoking time to write a project life.
00:08:33
Speaker
all ready to try and sort of counteract this, this burden in my own mind that was really no fault, no fault of mine. And something that only really began to change in 2016. So I was about 25 at the time. So again, I lived this lifestyle for quite a while that there was points of really moments of real, real dark, dead, dark bottoms where not went to exist anymore, suicidal ideations, a few close calls in that point.
00:08:58
Speaker
And ultimately, I found myself in a relationship through this point, but also was in a relationship with Alcole quite heavily, but quite secretively at this point, too. And the two didn't go hand in hand. And on one particular occasion, on one argument into this relationship, I went to the pub like I always did, sort of avoided the confrontation, avoided the conversation. And I acted unfaithfully to this partner. And rightly so. It was the end of that relationship. But it was also the start of the end of my other relationship with Alcole.
00:09:26
Speaker
to try and vow to make that change and try and win that part about looking back. But it was the 6th of June 2016 that I really came to terms with the fact of how far I'd fallen and the fact that this sort of assistance I was using, assistance tool, was no longer providing just an outlet for me. It was now affecting all those around me. So that burden I never wanted to put onto anybody.
00:09:47
Speaker
was now exactly what I was doing. And I thought I'd compromised myself as an individual. I'd changed, my ethics were different, and I reached a real crisis point, a real rock bottom, and the moment I had to make a major change from. Wow. It's just massive, isn't it, that you got to that point, but it went on for quite a long time.
00:10:05
Speaker
It was. I mean, it was 12 years suffering in silence, really, just not reaching out and not seeking help. And again, I suppose in a business setting, I mean, that would be the end of the business. If you weren't seeking help at that point, I weren't delegating tasks out of various moments, but I was just trying to burden all that weight level I was going through.
00:10:22
Speaker
on my own mind constantly. And I was time went on, of course, tolerance grew, tolerance increased, so it was more and more and more which has provided a much bigger strain on, I suppose, health and personal and finances and everything really was going down. There's a great quote I love about alcohol being...
00:10:40
Speaker
a fantastic dissolveent. A dissolveent of relationships, a dissolveent of finances, but never a dissolveent of problems. For me, I hadn't come to terms with that reality at that point. I'm still trying to utilise it as that catalyst. You've reached that point and change was a coming. I love when I've heard you talk about this before, what happened.
00:11:08
Speaker
I don't want to fast forward you at all. I want to hear what happened, where it led you. But there's a bit in that that I love, which is your friend. So this is that sense of you've been on your own, trying to deal with everything on your own. But what happened next? Yes, I've really hit my rock
Turning Point: Moving Back to Cumbria
00:11:26
Speaker
bottom here. The whole foundations I've built really for my life at this point have just crumbled beneath me, I guess.
00:11:32
Speaker
job I was now in for a good sort of six years. I was managing this place now at this point, obviously relationship I was in, the flat I had in the city. I'd been there seven years, met a lot of people, was a known face in that town or city rather. It just always felt like a town because it was quite a small condensed sense. I always joked about the town feel of York. But literally overnight at that point, I came to terms with the fact that
00:11:56
Speaker
I could no longer live this life I was leading. I was trying to make this change. Obviously, I was trying to win that partner back and trying to do that holding. I can be different. I can do this. Forgive me.
00:12:05
Speaker
And really, quite quickly, it dawned to me that I could no longer be in this environment if I was going to try and make this a reality. So York had become a very familiar spot to me, working both in that sort of sweet shop, if you will, kidding a sweet shop in that public environment, living in as well. So I'm literally living and breathing that life constantly. And also, easy access into town. My friends at the time, they're probably all takeaway owners and bartenders. I mean, the reality was,
00:12:32
Speaker
Maybe I should have dawned on me earlier.
00:12:36
Speaker
But I decided that I had to leave this city overnight. So I didn't say goodbye to anybody. I lost my girlfriend, I quit the job, left my flat and returned home to Cumbria where I was initially from. And for the first time in my life, I came clean with what I've been going through and the reasons behind why I had to leave York behind and the subsequent problems I've been having trying to battle my own head. So alcohol, of course, was very much a symptom of that. Well, I now know to be my battle with clinical depression.
00:13:05
Speaker
and again so 12 years in silence finally putting my hands up here I've got two scenarios really I felt as if I could go at this point at the bottom one was completely going under and at its worst probably off this mortal coil or the other one was kind of asking for help support to try and lift me back off from this precipice and
00:13:25
Speaker
The support I received back after coming clean with what I'd gone through, from friends and family, acquaintances, people I've met on my journey, is integral to why I'm speaking to you now, is the reason why I was able to make that change. The lift that I got, fearing that judgment, fearing that fact I'd been a burden on others all those years, was the opposite of what I experienced upon sharing it. And it was something that,
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah, very difficult to repay. I felt definitely very privileged about the fact that I still had those people in my life. There was moments of potential intervention or moments of ultimatums over the years that nearly had burned those bridges. And so often, you're hearing substance abuse and other sort of abuses, I guess. And that unconditional love, in a way, does run out to a certain point. You're pushing those boundaries. I was lucky to have come to that sort of reality, that epiphany of you were. It really did feel like that sort of moment in my life.
Fitness and Hiking: A New Beginning
00:14:24
Speaker
before that occurred, of course, still inflicting a lot of pain on my partner at the time that I vowed to try and make a change to and make amends for. But being lifted up by others was a huge, huge thing. And I tried to throw myself into fitness as a means of trying to replace that hole in my life, because alcohol was literally, the meaning I got up to, collapsed into bed sort of in blackout oblivion each day, really, it was kind of just the only thing I did. And the minute that first pint went down my neck, that was kind of, that was the way the day I was going.
00:14:51
Speaker
So fitness tried to fill that hole in the line. So at first it was going back to the gym that I had done when I was about 18. It was trying to go some little walks nearby. It was back on my bicycle, the local area, just a little sort of route up there. And then one friend turned at my doorstep and said he was going to take me for a hike in the later streets. Now again, although being so close, I mean literally about 20 miles from the late district where I grew up,
00:15:15
Speaker
I've never really been out there before at all, so I didn't know what to expect. I love that you've never been for walking. I can't see any reason people go to the lake. You see it so often, again, even now living in the lakes now, you see a lot of people who've been here for generations who appreciate the beauty, but don't really utilize... I don't want to go up there.
00:15:35
Speaker
It's typical complacency, isn't that snow blindness you get? I mean, you get that too in business, if you work somewhere for a long time. So that's taking yourself out of a situation. You appreciate what you've got or what you're doing or the situations you're in. And likewise, for me, I think you saw a lot of people wanting to want to move to the cities from Cumbria, because it's very rural. They wanted that high five the nightlife, where I never really sort of wanted that too much. York was about big enough for me to move away. But coming back again, it was kind of a new, a new door in a new sort of relationship.
00:16:05
Speaker
And yeah, I put on my hand to hand at the time. So I had no equipment, I didn't know what to expect. I was kind of really again, didn't really have any money for any clothes at the time, I was very overweight. So I was kind of putting what I had over these years of what would fit retail really. So I just had an old scabby jumper I put on I think a pair of swim shorts that you know, had a nice big jewel string I could pull to keep my shorts up really and some scabby trainers that were the trainers I'd go to for sort of my post trains for going out but also what I'd go in
00:16:31
Speaker
for anything really. So that was all I really had. So they had as about as much grip as a pair of bowling shoes, I think. And my friend took one look at me and said, you can't go like that. Look at the state of you. I mean, mountain rescue. Hello. And that's it. Exactly. I mean, these days, you know, it's a far cry, of course, and sort of trying to promote that responsible influence a lot more to what I do. But at the time, again, not really any different. He pulled over on the way to Lake District at a local outdoor store.
00:16:59
Speaker
pulled this pair of boots off the counter for me. And at the time, I was completely penniless. I mean, I've just paid the last of my sort of rental debts. I mean, I was probably still some outstanding bartender in York. I mean, if anyone is listening now and in that situation, they do own a property that I'm sure we can speak afterwards and try and sort that out. It's max these credit cards out. I've blown this inheritance I had from a great uncle, like a good starting life. It's all down my neck. It's all gone.
00:17:24
Speaker
And buying this pair of boots he did off the counter for me, and it was a huge show of support and faith for this new movement, and one that could have quite easily backfired, quite a trusting, loving moment, really, that he didn't know where that was going to go to at the time. But as it did, about 20 minutes later, we pulled up at the base of Ben Caffra in the later streets. And that moment, I suppose, of faith and support, I was now looking up at this hillside and thinking, what have I got into here? We're going up there.
00:17:54
Speaker
Obviously, this has been six years now of just basically, you know, the very lethargic living, not doing anything at all, really, and suddenly getting frog-marched up this hillside. You know, two weeks after coming off this, you know, really, you know, alcoholic levels of drinking, I do identify that way, pining for my ex, you know, cold sweats, withdrawal, not knowing where I am in life, just such hazy mind, and really staring at my feet, just breathing, breathing so heavily, heading up this hillside.
00:18:21
Speaker
and you know he was very mentally patient as he went a really really slow plot gradually moving forward just trusting that path and trying to make that change and eventually reaching that summit point and barely having chance to take a breath before he looked at me and said right we're doing hell of ellen next week so a week later in the story very similar to the first mountain just
00:18:45
Speaker
buzzing really at the top of the hill and looking down on the this beautiful view we got with belly and cloud in the sky of red time below and striding edge and the Pennines in the distance and it was just really like something new was being sparked in me like this new path to go on. Something that I really wanted more of again perhaps there's maybe a connotations of an addictive nature here but on the same same with biscuits can't put them down but it's
00:19:10
Speaker
Well, you know, you were pointing it at the right kind of thing. It's going to be a nicer thing for you to incorporate into your life. Well, that was trying to be the aim of this point, I guess. It was all trying to change those negative vices into positive vices. I was going back initially as well. I mean, I tried to look more at what I was eating because I was generally picking up a few chips from the kitchen when I was working, working 14, 16 hour days in a hospitality environment.
00:19:33
Speaker
the only break you're getting is going round the back of the car park for a fact, really, it was kind of just one of those constantly moving, falling back home in the evening with a takeaway in hand. So it was trying to look back at how I was feeling myself too, again, not expecting to fuel a car with a poor input for it to go 100 miles. So how I was feeling myself going back to that cooking bit, I always loved cooking fresh cooking, you know, sort of homely meals at home, as well as this sort of
00:19:59
Speaker
activity, getting myself moving, sort of a body in mind, via the gym, via walking, via the hills. And this will spark this journey onwards. I think within a month we've been climbing to Mount Snowdon and coming across this sign via the Kripgott Ridge at one point, coming across this sign that said, you know, experience walkers only from this point. The two of us looking at each other thinking, you know, we experience walkers.
00:20:23
Speaker
And we had the kit at this point, of course, our boots and the backpack and bits. And we've done a few and we know how to map out with this. We all follow the guidelines. It's still now one of my favorite, favorite experiences. I've been back and done it again, but it was phenomenal. But of course, yeah, not for the faint hearted and definitely.
00:20:39
Speaker
I mean, no ropes required, but sort of, you know, a good scramble and very much an edge. I mean, you hear Strident Edge. Very much. Like a wide platform sort of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of a hell of
00:21:04
Speaker
basically began to advance into other elements of fitness too. So another friend had asked me if I wanted to go for a run at some point and I thought hang on a minute, this is a bit too much now. I'm doing a bit of walk, I'm going to the gym, I'm not a runner, I've never really enjoyed running after a ball.
00:21:21
Speaker
We were in sports. They said, no, come on, we'll go around a little run around the park. And it was probably two kilometers. But again, push forward
Marathon Milestones: A Life Transformed
00:21:28
Speaker
on it. And that 2K became sort of free, became five. You know, the hiking boots began to get changed for sort of running trainers and trail trainers. And then next minute, we're going back to some of these mountains that we've started off on and trying to run sort of along the tops and in there and going back to Blenkaffa by the end and running sort of up that path that I initially tried to struggle to walk up. Yeah, yeah, trudging.
00:21:49
Speaker
just a huge, huge change. And I mean, to the outside, I mean, it's one thing for me, but I mean, to people who actually knew me, sort of family and friends from before and after. I mean, it must have been bizarre. I must have been thinking what's going on. I mean, it's just all of a sudden this chap who took the off the odd picture of a pint pot on top of the bar on his Facebook page is all of a sudden now running up these hillsides and going out each day. It just was literally overnight, a right switch moment. And at the turn of the year,
00:22:15
Speaker
That same friend that took me up the hills, Ryan, up the mountain tops said, do you fancy trying to run a marathon? He'd never done one himself. We'd got into sort of running together. I mean, it was a lot fitter than me, but previously, but I was going like, you're having a giraffe at this point. I mean, I'd laugh at you at the pub if you'd expected me to do this.
00:22:32
Speaker
But there we are, signing up for a marathon. And in May 2017, so 11 months on from that change moment of the 6th of June, 2016, here I am crossing the line at a marathon. Now seven stone lighter, about nearly a year sober at this point, and living this completely different life. All due really to the fact of that support at the start from friends and family of eventually realizing that it was okay to talk and okay to say, look, I am struggling.
00:22:59
Speaker
whether that was myself, whether that was, you know, with business, whether that was your family life, and just actually putting my hands up and being, you know, it's okay to say I'm having a moment here.
00:23:10
Speaker
It's just looking back, it's just, it's like a stranger, it really is just such a, I saw it was like my 80s movie montage at the time, it was kind of me there, that was it, putting the tunes on and heading up these hillsides and just pushing on. Again, trying to win that partner back, but as time went on, realizing this change was for me, you know, and writing my goals and really showcasing that support I got from other people by valuing that and making sure it wasn't ill-fated really.
00:23:38
Speaker
It's interesting because it's such a shift and a change. And I, when I hear about it, it's kind of not often you hear about someone just making a complete 180, you know, like not like that you did this incrementally, you just totally change everything. Do you think you saw the warning signs that you were ready for change? Do you think there was anything that sort of foreshadowed it or was it literally circumstance that
00:24:09
Speaker
you know, girlfriend situation was the thing that happened that forced it.
00:24:13
Speaker
Not at the time. I think retrospectively, looking back, you can pick moments up from that. You can analyze the situation then. And I suppose there was even moments of maybe potential intervention at times, but not to this full extent. But I was quite a solitary sort of drinker at the time as well. I was highly functioning. So I was known as a heavy drinker. I was quite a big chap anyway. So there wasn't really any signs. And culturally, it was kind of just, you know, blokey bravado out there, likes to drink.
00:24:40
Speaker
heading out mixing with different groups so they wouldn't see the extent of what I had that previous day. So it was kind of not really tailored that way, but just kind of how it ended up. Yeah. Yeah. So it was as much a circumstance thing. And I had no, myself, I wasn't going, oh, you're having a bit much here, or you're drinking a bit much. No. My weight was noticeable. I mean, I noticed myself, I was quite insecure with that. Of course, I'm putting the weight, I didn't like how I was and wasn't really happy with myself. But
00:25:05
Speaker
again that just fueled me further into really drinking to forget and to black now it's kind of my means of existing each day just getting the day's pass not living them just riding ice a bit of a speedier acceleration through life and
00:25:22
Speaker
yeah i mean really i mean it's only one of those i think you you pick things up i mean uh at one point i you know i couldn't picture myself not having a drink i didn't i didn't really trust people who couldn't drink i didn't get that at all you know i suppose i didn't see myself as a smoker yeah i was smoking you know a pack a day i just it was kind of i hadn't touched i was 18 but it was kind of just i smoke when i drink or when do you drink or drink every day it was kind of just yeah they don't add up any more do they yeah yeah
00:25:49
Speaker
I didn't define myself by these actions, but it was exactly who I was and what was ingrained with me. But it was really, again, that moment of realizing how much I had changed by inflicting that hurt on somebody else.
00:26:03
Speaker
through who I was, the person, if you had asked me to describe who I was, it would have been that sort of, you know, loyal, honest person, you know, selfless sort of thing. And that was exactly the opposite of the actions I just portrayed. And that, for me, was the real bit of going just an absolute snap out of that moment of how far really I'd gone.
00:26:22
Speaker
And yeah, I think to some, sometimes for these things, I think it is, it can be a rock bottom moment. I think you want to catch the signs before. And I think that's perhaps where reaching out more for support along the way can provide those touch points or, you know, having that maybe alternative, maybe mental or audit sort of on the outside in there. But for myself at the time, I wasn't willing to let any of that in. I was very stubborn. I think even if I spoke to my younger self, that's often one of the things people say. What would you say? Yeah, what would you say?
00:26:50
Speaker
I always say I don't think he'd listen. I just want to know. I try and tell him to stay because I think ultimately that's the one thing I didn't want to do. But other than that, I think I was very much on my route and that was kind of my only path. I just saw this as my cross to bear and there was no way of getting out of this.
00:27:24
Speaker
And when I listened to her, I was thinking about what factors must have been in play. So, like when you said your stubbornness, like, you know, you're using that stubbornness now, aren't you, to apply it to something else? Dragging yourself up the hill? Yeah, I mean, there's moments of that for sure. Again, although it wasn't too
00:27:47
Speaker
never been two phase by outside perception, but there's certainly elements of accountability in there as well. I think that wanting to, to do things right and do things the right way and, you know, not always complete yourself as well, not always for self, but kind of, I don't know, just doing a good job of things and doing things the right way and not leaving things unturned or unfinished. And
00:28:08
Speaker
I've always been like that in my day job. I think that's why I kind of, my studies academically, I suppose I was strong enough to follow that path, but never really conformed to research, found it more of a, I can adapt to do what you'd like me to do, but I don't really fully endorse this. I don't think it's very theoretical. Whereas in the practical situations, I don't know, I excelled more at that practical side of things. So when it came to being myself, I suppose being that task.
00:28:33
Speaker
Um, although it renders it difficult at first and requiring that external motivation as this went on and became easy, it became some of the hours striving for that success further.
Environment and Habit Shifts in Personal Transformation
00:28:43
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm, I'm listening. So I'm hearing your characteristics, you've applied them like your stubbornness, your, like your ability to work through what the process and even though it was hard. And I was thinking as being vulnerable, reaching out.
00:29:02
Speaker
being able to get that support. That's fundamental to your story, isn't it? And your environment, you had to change your environment for you to do this. It sounds like if you'd have stayed in that environment, this shift that you were looking for would have been very much hampered, if possible, maybe even.
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure it would have been. It's one that I have a huge amount of support and respect for the hospitality trade. I did 14 years in that trade in the end. And it's one that these days, even now with the foodie side of things, I still support massively. But I do appreciate how sometimes the insociable hours and the stresses and the length of time out there and the, I suppose the lifestyle that goes with it can be quite destructive for a lot of people. So it's quite a common story.
00:29:50
Speaker
all that way or but for me again it was even in the kitchen i mean i remember some of the chefs trying to you know trying to quit smoking and stuff and trying to trying to quit smoking whilst working in a commercial kitchen it was the only chance you got to get out you know that really hot super hot environment yeah got a reason that was it just to pop out even in smoking they'd pop out and probably just take one for it it's just that sort of thing so for me being amongst that though i wasn't someone that succumbed to peer pressure i was very solitary in this
00:30:17
Speaker
It was still, it was too familiar, I think, for me. I think that'd have been, I mean, breaking strain of a KitKat, it was one of the, a friend of mine used to say quite a lot in terms of, you know, having a drink after work. And I think that would have been me. I think it'd have been too easy to go, ah, sorry. Well, I'm gonna start again. There's something to forget.
00:30:34
Speaker
There's something here around your environment shift and changed. You said about accountability for yourself, the rewards of having an achievement. Getting up to the top of those mountains and running marathons, you were having that sense of enjoyment from something different. I can see all these components have changed. If I think about applying that to somebody who's trying to change something else, it doesn't have to be as
00:31:01
Speaker
transformational is yours, but even if it is just simply trying to change some habits, I'm thinking change your environment, having rewards, having that support, being vulnerable, reaching out. They're kind of all parallels with what you've done and you've obviously done it and applied it in quite a big way, but it all feels relevant for any kind of change somebody's trying to implement in their life.
00:31:28
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think there's elements in there perhaps as well of looking back almost like mentoring as well to a certain degree in terms of
00:31:34
Speaker
having that guidance from peers that sort of had been a little bit further ahead on the journey and being willing to listen to that point. I was always someone that was willing to learn and listen. I love the foodie side, especially, because I was always talking to chefs. I've never been trained. I was always speaking to chefs. I worked along the way. I was like, how have you done that? What's gone into there? What's on that? And I was always had that willingness to learn. So that perhaps the stubbornness maybe doesn't give that justice at times. I think that was always a personal sort of stubbornness rather than anything else.
00:32:01
Speaker
It wasn't sort of, you know, I know best, it was, but kind of, yeah, it came to your own individual battles. The mentoring aspect there, I suppose, personal development as well, I suppose, was a big thing into there as well, about trying to advance yourself to the next steps, which then came a lot with the fitness journey, I suppose.
00:32:18
Speaker
And yeah, ultimately, the accountability just, yeah, we're trying to conform to those bits and trying to right those wrongs in a way. I mean, obviously, I'm in a business setting or a personal setting, you probably wouldn't get to those elements. Hopefully, you haven't to right any major wrongs you've done. But there's certainly bits that you've learned from previous mistakes. Mistakes. Yeah, absolutely. I think you have to make those bits in life as well. I think even now, it's not something that, although when this was back in 2016, 2017, it's
00:32:44
Speaker
But it's also one that I wouldn't change that path. It's kind of that that's been the path that's, that's molded me into who I am, and brought me the knowledge I suppose that I have now.
00:32:54
Speaker
speak about this I guess and to try and maybe help somebody else with that so I suppose bringing that back that mentor in full circle is trying to use that story of what I've been through not by a means of um you know this is this is how to do it because I don't think I don't like that guruism that comes with this sort of sometimes that folks will think I've done this I could change you listen to how I've done it because I think everything is individual to some degree but there are familiarities and similarities to take from that and I think it's more about
00:33:21
Speaker
providing that information to somebody that you are alone going through this. So it's why I talk about this so much now, because I felt so alone at the start, but there is always somebody there to speak to you about these bits to go through. That is personal business. Are we going to move on to like where it, where it took you, the fell foodie piece? I want to hear a little bit about that. But if you were going to look at the change that you've created, how did you sustain it?
00:33:49
Speaker
you realize things needed to change. And that must have been quite transformational, that early stage. But I often work with people where, and I have hands up that this happens to me. But you know, you implement a change, whatever it is, habit, gym, whatever, and then that initial optimism, but you didn't really know what you were taking on, that kind of falls away and you suddenly realize how hard this is gonna be.
00:34:18
Speaker
Did you reach those places where you were like, oh, this is hard? And to do with the shifts in your exercise and how you were eating and everything, did you encounter those or did you just find what you had was enough for you to just keep pushing through?
00:34:36
Speaker
Oh, undoubtedly I reached those points. Yeah, I think it's something that obviously I speak about this journey quite a lot these days. You race through those first sort of moments of going, this was it. This happened on this day. By the end of the year, I was doing this amazing. I was believing you there, Harrison.
00:34:53
Speaker
All through those moments, I mean, literally my whole world's just crumbled beneath me, like everything. I mean, I'm going through the levels of drinking at the consumption I was having as well. I mean, medicinally, I went cold turkey, which is not advisable at that sort of level, really. It should get sort of staggered with drool or even sort of chemical help with that sort of stuff.
00:35:14
Speaker
hand bits in there, I mean, I was all over the place. I mean, I'm mentally just a bit heartbroken, really, you know, just going through the drawers hallucinating sometimes at night, cold sweats in the, you know, waking up into bed, you know, gasping as I'm going into these sort of exercise bits, pushing, pushing just really, I suppose, looking back, I'm kind of punishing myself really.
00:35:35
Speaker
was kind of all this and look at this you deserve this pain now kind of pushing on and it was kind of a bit of a also brutal message to myself and sort of really that even if things hadn't worked out it was like well this is the path you've you've designed for yourself now you know really really putting it on par with sort of things that I felt as if I yeah I've never deserved to have put that pain on somebody else so why should I now
00:35:59
Speaker
appreciating the good things from so there was an element of those bits too but as time went on it was more becoming you know a better son a better brother a better sort of friend to people i was more reliable i was trying to rebuild those relationships more that i was you know i still had but some of them were sort of hanging on by strings really so it was kind of rebuilding those how building more into play trying to give back to some degrees and yes certainly moments of hitting walls hitting hitting hitting obstacles
00:36:28
Speaker
just trying to push on through. But there wasn't a goal of such a mess because the goal was to try and get back to York and to try and rebuild that life. But as the parameters changed, I realized this was much more for me, this change was for me, it was around me. And then life began really, there was a lot of trust in the path as well to a certain degree, it was kind of not knowing the future. And though I think there are both schools of thought in terms of you know,
00:36:54
Speaker
let life take its path and sort of maybe more of a spiritual thing which I think I was certainly going through a bit of that but that might have been maybe the withdrawal and all sorts and borderline hallucinations at times. There was also a degree of you know trying to put things in place for that next step of change but there's a bit of both in that way I just allowed it really to naturally take its path and see where this was taking me but enjoying
00:37:17
Speaker
the success I was getting personally with myself. I was happy to start being in terms of looking at myself in the mirror. There was able to do things I'd never been able to do before. There was so much progression, personal bests every time I was going out. And that whole compound effect, I suppose they talk a lot about making a change now, a small change.
00:37:38
Speaker
and looking back and then seeing how major that change is, rather than trying to go 0 to 60 on the first day and burning out and then struggling. Yeah, yeah. But there were certainly moments of struggle throughout that though. I mean, please do not... No, no, it does sound hard.
00:37:54
Speaker
I think what's interesting is through all your talking, you didn't really talk about a goal. You didn't walk up like how well in with a goal. And the first time you've mentioned a goal was when you said, oh, well, the goal actually was to go back to York and rekindle my life or a different version of it. And then you realize that goal was really a bit, not really the goal that you wanted now. So that's really interesting. It's like,
00:38:17
Speaker
Change for you is this incremental piece. And I think the biggest thing I'm hearing when you talk is your identity, how you thought about yourself, like what type of person you wanted to be or thought you were back then. And actually you were acting that person now. So it's like really all these different facets of what needed to be lined up, but actually what was underneath it was like who you were.
00:38:44
Speaker
Yeah, I've always been one that struggled, I guess, with definitions of yourself. I mean, we always sort of define each other, don't we, by what we do as a job half the time, it seems to be the most top parameters of who we are as people. And really, often, I think we're much more custodians for jobs. I don't think the jobs define us as who we are. So in terms of goals, this is such, I mean, it was kind of just really wanting to
00:39:08
Speaker
to seek apology from others. I was kind of just trying to right wrongs. That was my goals, was really there. And throughout this, I was seeking medical help and various bits through there, I ended up getting pushed towards more. And the group therapy sort of AA at the time as well, which there was all that sort of 12 steps that sort of went through that
00:39:26
Speaker
I really enjoyed being in that environment of like-minded individuals being able to share what I was going through but didn't quite conform with perhaps that was quite a religious aspect that I couldn't quite get on board. I enjoyed all the spiritual side but couldn't quite get on board with that. Looking back again you said previously about reevaluating.
00:39:42
Speaker
I sort of think I did sort of follow that that routine to some degree and the final sort of steps in that are sort of seeking apology from others and then final step is helping those who are still struggling that kind of see now as that has really
00:39:58
Speaker
I'd always struggled for what my purpose was, I think, and what was the existential sort of stuff. And I think it still does some degree. And sometimes I think there isn't really maybe one or all, there's little bits. But for me now, it's trying to utilize what I've been through to help the next person. So that was kind of that final step was utilizing that to go forward. Not in that guru aspect, but just in terms of a case study, you know, of going, look, it's not just you going through this. I've been through this. I still go through this. It's not a cure. You know, I think it's just
00:40:28
Speaker
those sort of mountains and mountains and dips have never come more hills and valleys. It's kind of a much more smaller, bumpy road now. But it's, it is still a work in progress and one that I've still hit moments of struggle for. But yeah, goal goal wise, yeah, I've never really
00:40:43
Speaker
Even now, I suppose you sometimes talk to some business very quickly and they go, what are your goals in the next three, five years? And I've never really had that. I've never known what I want to do. I've never seen much of the future. I used to think far ahead of where I wanted to be at one point, put my own detriment, and had deadlines for myself. At one point, I had a major deadline at Ferage. If I hadn't achieved certain things, then that was it. I was giving up. That was my final bit of going. I pushed on long enough. If I've suffered for 15 years then and not got to that, then that was me giving up, really.
00:41:12
Speaker
These days, I just take each day as it comes. I just, at the moment, one day at a time, I'm as sobriety. I try and make positive implements each time. But a lot of things I know I can't change in the future to somebody. I can put things out there. I can speculatively push towards things. I can make positive steps and try to build towards futures. But there are some elements that are perhaps chance and opportunities to take.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah. And bumps in the road that you can't expect because there are hardships in life as much as there are good chips that we can't deny. So it's riding that wave with that in the present.
Overcoming Criticism: An Internal Battle
00:41:48
Speaker
So given that we've stuck into your journey and got under your skin, worked out how we can copy some of your good habit forming, is there any specific advice you would give to somebody who
00:42:05
Speaker
wanted to shift a habit that they know maybe it wasn't destructive, but it's just something that they want to shift. There's a lot of theory about what habits and change, you've done it, you've been there, done it. What would be a key thing that you would offer to the world? One sort of metaphor I've always quite enjoyed, I was thinking about this the other day actually, it's kind of keeping your side of the street clean to a certain way. I think there's a lot about being selfless and helping others.
00:42:32
Speaker
sometimes at the detriment of yourself. And I think we've always got a fear of change in any capacity. I mean, we've got a fear of being beginners, as well as things. I think a lot of us do is trying to renew where, you know, when we're younger, it's kind of you throw yourself into these scenarios with that sort of blind faith and blind optimism in a way where we get a bit older, it's kind of going, I can't start that again, because I'll be at the bottom of the ladder and everyone's going to be better than me. I don't want to look as if I'm that
00:42:57
Speaker
We've all got to learn, we've all got to make mistakes on the way up. For me, sometimes it's been, even the running side was one thing, I was very conscious about going out there being quite overweight and being very unfit and running in public. I was quite one at the gym at the first, I'd go very late on on the treadmill, in the dark, it was quiet. I started to head out into the daytime.
00:43:17
Speaker
It was kind of going on, what he was thinking, what's there and driving, what he's doing there. And so many people are in their own heads, they're not popping up what you're doing. But he also felt as if it was, it didn't matter how slow I was or how far I was going or how fast I was.
00:43:29
Speaker
The little I was going, it was always more than there was gonna be if I was the man sat at home on the sofa. It was always gonna be more than him. So it was always a self battle with myself. It was never really battling anybody else. It was always me, progression on myself. And that keeping the street clean sort of thing. Again, there could be someone the other side of the street, you know, pointing and laughing at what you're doing or, you know, laughing at your mistakes, laughing at your trying, but ultimately he's never there. And his side of the street or her side or the alien, whatever you want.
00:43:56
Speaker
picture was you know maybe he was unkempt as far as the weeds were all out there was rubbish bags everywhere sort of thing he hadn't repaired his windowsill all this sort of image i guess over your side you know you're just brushing it every day the weeds were growing back constantly but you would just keep keep keep at it and it was just ignoring that
00:44:14
Speaker
critic, I suppose, on the other side, the one who really, a lot of the time, perhaps was looking in your life thinking, I want those changes too, but I've not made to those steps. So it was kind of, but that was always the inner battle. It was never, to me, it was kind of proverbial. So keeping that stream, you know, I think each day was kind of not worrying about the outside perception, not worrying about being a beginner, not worrying about failure, because you know, you make those steps and you carve that path by taking that first step.
00:44:41
Speaker
Lovely. Thank you. So let's zoom up to date. So you ran the marathon. Yes. And then you're here. What was that intervening moment?
00:44:56
Speaker
Yeah, so we're going 2017, 2023 here, aren't we? So there's a bit in between. Yeah, I suppose things had settled out at that point. I guess I'd found myself in sort of a nice job in the later streets, working more office, more regular hours.
00:45:12
Speaker
still progressing myself personally with the fitness side of things and finding new hobbies and around this time of course i was hiking quite regularly and move to the late district really really by chance for this to this job of random connection in a cafe that was working at the time that end up leading to working in grasmere.
00:45:30
Speaker
So I found myself here, I didn't really plan on moving to the lakes but now I was in this playground that I was utilising and heading out more and more on the evenings. And I was taking lunches or dinners with me into the hills to enjoy whilst I was out heading up for a sunset hike and stuff and I would be hungry so I took something out of there, packed lunch and I was enjoying the time in the kitchen again.
The Birth of the Fell Foodie Identity
00:45:49
Speaker
Basically I didn't want to be one of those people that started sharing pictures of their food on Facebook to their friends.
00:45:55
Speaker
So I'll set up this anonymous account on Instagram and do it myself, the Fel Foodies. I was loving the Fels in the running and I was loving cooking at home, initially at home or pack lunches into the hills.
00:46:08
Speaker
And I just share those pictures. I didn't share who I was. I didn't share my name. And it grew a little bit. There's a small and modest following on there. And I got to my second year sober in 2018. And I decided now to share that story in its entirety publicly. And just like the first time that support and well wishes and similar stories, actually, people who found the outdoors and things for a similar reason that came back from that was really humbling, really. It was really
00:46:37
Speaker
You know, it did a lot and it also started the snowball, I suppose, of there was a chap I used to serve. It's funny who you meet in life is if there's a chap I used to serve in the local pub when I was 18 who worked for the local news station that I had on Facebook all these years that saw this reveal of this story.
00:46:53
Speaker
And he said, Oh, we'd like to cover that. Would you like to come on local news and talk about it? And again, I wouldn't share this in the mirror two years ago. And I'm kind of going, right, okay. Yeah, I can do. I don't really know what to expect what to do again, blind faith, you know, worried about being that failure, but going, Okay, well, I'll try and share this for the greater good in a way for the next person to kind of that little kid I was not knowing what they were going through. If they were listening one person, then it was worthwhile sharing what I was going through.
Outdoor Cooking and Media Exposure
00:47:23
Speaker
And that led on to a local sort of media press that led them to a friend of mine that it turned out was working for an outdoor publication as a journalist. So he interviewed me that sort of started this snowball effect that the following time to grow, I'd revealed who I was. And one person sort of said, why didn't you get a stove and actually start cooking out there from scratch? It was a bit of a joke, really.
00:47:42
Speaker
So I did, I bought the camping stove and started woken up again, like the start with no equipment, that's what I had in the kitchen. So I put the hooks up, big heavy stuff, carry that up the hill to try and make what I was doing in the kitchen now in this environment. Just as a bit of a challenge and a bit of just merging those two passions really sort of quite fair. And yeah, it just seemed to spark a bit of interest. I guess the pictures of the food and the views, two loves that other people had had.
00:48:07
Speaker
And again, tied with that story, I think it does seem to maybe spark a bit of a perhaps interest or sometimes even, you know, inquisitiveness from other people. And it's just really snowballed quite naturally into other things of having the chance to go at a local school. So can you come in and do a talk? Yeah, for sure. I'd love to, you know, a business then. So could you come and speak to people here? Yeah, sure. Love to, you know, to podcast this to radio and then leading on to randomly one day getting a call from
00:48:36
Speaker
from the bbc to go and go on television and share this story nationally with the institution that is this day mary barium it was just an absolute bonkers it's always been very much like i said the star no goals or no sort of that i want to make it that next one yeah i want to get on there it was just a very organic path
00:48:56
Speaker
Mm-hmm was me just just just trying to be me ultimately and I think who I am now It's kind of I do well, that's what you do again being defined by the jobs and I kind of go Well, I'm just me now really I love that. I'm earning my money just being me Obviously, you've got to explain a bit more then of course, we've got some business contacts by actually saying what you do That's it. It's a funny one. But essentially I'm an outdoor cook
00:49:23
Speaker
these days. I'm a mental health speaker, I suppose with businesses and schools, universities, I suppose a bit of a marketeer in terms of some social media campaigns and brand faces for that. And I guess a bit of a quirky caterer. I mean, I've been sometimes up in random spots or remote places, cooking for various groups or working with sort of brand events and a lot of festivals and stuff like that.
00:49:45
Speaker
It's all just naturally evolved into the point where it became something that was too much to do alongside my day job. I was just away every weekend, coming back someplace. And really, I was quit starting to neglect.
00:50:00
Speaker
the personal aspects again. See, it has come in. Yeah, the 40 and 60 nowadays shifts almost. Yeah. Pushing towards those goals and sacrificing the bits that got me there. And then of course, I suppose we hit lockdown during this point as well, that there are yes and no, it's like, oh, come on, it's two years ago now. I'm still using it as an excuse now. That kind of eroded
00:50:23
Speaker
those routines I've built, I've spent so hard looking at business, you hit these bumps in the road that you would never have expected that to come. I'm in quite a good routine. I'm going out there, I'm dreaming every day now, I'm still loose and all of a sudden, they're getting close, they're getting close tomorrow. Right, okay, well, I'll go out running, but you can't go outside now for more than an hour. What? Which was never a rule, but it was taken as gospel and certainly the neighbors curtains would always twitch whenever you're out and about. But
00:50:48
Speaker
Yeah. My day job at the time then went absolutely bananas. I was in shipping logistics. So obviously that became such a key element of things going on during lockdown when everyone was at home ordering stuff online. So it went bananas. And in a small business like this where it was many hats already, there's quite a lot of furlough. The workload went through the roof. Again, that became a seven day operation. So all of a sudden now it was, there's no time for me.
00:51:12
Speaker
I'm going to work all day. I'm working all day long, sit at home. And I think I fell back on sort of food as my crooks, really, which has always been a passion. But there's also been a bit of a struggle with with moderation. So all of a sudden, the exercises fell by the wayside. The mountains, I never really spoke about this online, because I felt quite guilty. I was in a beautiful area. And I was growing up, I was in I was in the Lake District, looking at the windows, this green space every day, I wasn't in a high rise building the city through lockdown.
00:51:39
Speaker
but it was still, I wasn't allowed to go out there. And though you could be like, you can just go and do it, there's no one here. And I could, but that wasn't, again, I would have felt guilty for that because I was getting told not to.
00:51:51
Speaker
And the likes of the Mountain Rescue were saying not to go into these hills. Of course there were, yeah. Something had happened, and of course she had been exposing other people. And even the most experienced person could have a little slip one day. It could always happen. And for the first time for me, I was stuck in their zone four walls again, like I had been at the start. I never really drunk at home. I was drunk out and about. I didn't want to be stuck at home in my own head.
00:52:12
Speaker
But now I'm forced to be in that environment. And again, everyone's going through the same. So I couldn't be like, whoa, me waving. It's like, well, get on with this. You've got to you've got to carry on. But must have felt quite high risk. There was certainly huge moments of temptation to go back to the previous days and just kind of speed the days along by drinking again. The heaviest temptations really, because that that's maybe one element people say, do you miss drinking?
00:52:40
Speaker
I don't particularly miss the taste of things. I don't mind the old alcohol-free beer every now and again. I sort of avoided some of the wines and spirits, a bit of a perceiver effect for me.
00:52:49
Speaker
But I do miss sometimes that sensation of escape and shutting off and being able to almost have a little break from life. Whereas now I'm present for it all, you know, I'm more present for the good things much more than I ever was before. But I also have to be present for the bad things. And it's kind of I can't skip those now like I did before, which was a bit hard.
00:53:13
Speaker
Not that I'm saying it's a personal evaluation, I'm not saying it to anybody else listening, but at that time then it felt as if, look, I could just get through these days a bit quicker by drinking through these.
00:53:23
Speaker
It was a tough one. So I put a lot of weight back on during lockdown. And again, coming back out, I'm still struggling to build that routine, because it's all since blown again, that snowball effect. It came out full circle again, that ball was straight down a steeper hill once lockdown ended, and the fellow foodie stuff was going even busier, and the festivals were starting again, and we're out and about. And then I had to make the difficult decision of sort of, you know, a job that I actually loved and was doing very well in and had really advanced in my time there. Or this new entity that was kind of me
00:53:51
Speaker
having this opportunity and it was kind of well, yeah, both would have been viable options and both would have provided good lives but they felt a little bit more of a I have to chase this and I'll see where this goes like it's kind of a string that unraveling and it may be something that dissipates and collapses in a few years and you go well look back on the memories of it and that's absolutely fine but for now
00:54:14
Speaker
bit of a speculative path like it's all been I suppose since 2016. I'm chasing this now as one has become a full-time freelance entity of being me as full foodie full-time so we're about 16 months in now just about surviving I'd say, surviving rather than thriving.
00:54:31
Speaker
But again, just being so, so much fulfillment of really being able to meet one of the people sharing that story and hopefully, and impacting that change as I mentioned at the start, even if it's just one person by shame I'm going through and of course, now sharing that passion as well for outdoor cooking and their younger groups have been out there and people like your husband perhaps who it sounds like he's a keen aficionado for
00:54:54
Speaker
Yeah, he'd be totally up for it. So you've got school groups, you've got business people that want to do an alternative type of day on the hills.
00:55:08
Speaker
We're both on the hills and both in the environment because I suppose, I mean, I suppose the job title essentially now is motivational speaker. I mean, that's probably. Okay. So wherever. Yeah. And like I mentioned before, that sort of guruism, it's one that I kind of don't really like dubbing myself as because I don't think it's my place to say, I will motivate you. It's kind of, it's your, it's how you perceive it. Well, you know, you know, that person wouldn't have helped you if somebody had come along and said, I will motivate you. It had to come from within.
00:55:36
Speaker
No, exactly. You might say that sounds a bit like me. But again, but I think these will build up sometimes you might lose a business isn't it used to say it was three exposures led to a sale, I think now of the internet and social media is more like seven, I think now but different exposures and different bits and mental health stigma and mental health movement, it's added my story to that, which kind of pushes that movement further, which may then help somebody who hears those signs, look, I will go and get help because I'm not alone. So it's adding that in there. So I think it's part of that.
Motivational Speaking: Sharing His Story
00:56:06
Speaker
Although yes, there's personal aspects and there's business aspects, it's also that greater good, that greater movement. So yeah, in that sector now, I suppose going into corporate businesses, universities, speaking about that, festival circuits, I'll do a lot of cooking demos, I've just come back from car fest.
00:56:23
Speaker
down in Hampshire, which was fantastic. So again, sharing the personal journey, but also doing some cooking demonstrations on the camping stove and even talking through some, someone just to really go into an itty-gritty of the exact equipment that I'm using. Again, there were some people that seemed to really be interested in, you know, the stoves and the pans and the equipment. Yeah, do it themselves.
00:56:42
Speaker
And yeah, and it's even led I guess to, I've recently compiled my debut book. Oh yeah, I've seen your cookbook. Oh, you're totally buying that for Steve. I haven't told him yet. No, no, I've seen that. I'm like, right, that's Christmas sorted. Well, I might buy him something additional.
00:57:03
Speaker
I won't tell you anything else on that, but I mean, of course, yeah, that's not a stocky film movie. Yeah, that's brilliant. Yeah, again, that's a path that I'd never have really envisioned that would come. I know. I know a bit of a childhood dream to write a cookbook for it to actually become a reality, especially in the recent years, is a bizarre realisation, really, and sometimes one that I don't probably really stop and actually become determined with. But yeah, we're looking forward to that coming out as well, also about what I do now.
00:57:30
Speaker
Where will they be able to buy it?
Announcing 'Cook Out': The Debut Cookbook
00:57:33
Speaker
So it should be available sort of over online. He likes to virtually publish the publisher who's actually published the book, as well as he likes Amazon and various bits on there. I believe Waterstones, WHSmith are going to stock it as well. When's it released? Has it released yet?
00:57:47
Speaker
So October the 12th, it will be out. And what's it called? It's called Cook Out. So Cook Out by Fell Foodie, all about meals to cook, went out and about, whether at the campsite, up the hills, down for a dog walk, down at the beach, on sort of minimal equipment, be that camper van or camper in stoves. Amazing. And where else can people find you if they wanted to book you for some speaking event?
00:58:11
Speaker
So you can check out my website, www.fellfoodie.co.uk, that's foodie with an IE. Also on social media, as Fell Foodie, all my platforms are under that. And I receive messages I'm happy to apply to from all those platforms. Yeah, or like, send me an email. Yeah, LinkedIn, I suppose, maybe for this side of ones, or Instagram, Facebook, all sorts of bits. We're out there. You're everywhere. You're everywhere being you.
00:58:35
Speaker
Well, like yourself, Karina, obviously we've met through LinkedIn, haven't we, through that sort of thing. Your social networks, they bring people together, which is also the power of them, really. Absolutely. Reaching out and having all that support is great, isn't it? And that's where it started. So thank you. It was lovely to talk to you. Love hearing your journey and seeing how it relates to
00:58:58
Speaker
People really, people in business, but just people generally, and it's inspirational to listen to you. So I wish you well, and I look forward to seeing how your business thrives in the coming months and years. God bless you. It's really common. It's been a pleasure being on and a pleasure speaking with you.
00:59:22
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the Visible Leader podcast. To stay up to date with the latest episode, hit the subscribe button. And I'd love to hear what you think, so please leave me a review. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to me. Corinne Hines on LinkedIn.