HOW SOLO TRAVEL IMPACTS MY MENTAL HEALTH

Today is World Mental Health Day, which has prompted me to reflect on how I have been coping mentally since I started my retirement just over a year ago. Having worked for the BBC for thirty years it was interlinked with my sense of identity. Now I am no longer part of that big organisation it has taken me a bit of adjusting to life and finding a sense of purpose and identity that I am comfortable with. And I do think that after a year I am finally getting there. I am more aware of who I am and what I want out of life and what my boundaries are. 

Already I feel a great sense of achievement because for a longtime I said that I wanted to get rid of most of my things, buy a motorhome and travel Great Britain. This was because, despite travelling the world extensively, I had not really stopped to explore what was on my doorstep. Here I am doing it, I purchased my dream motorhome at www.elitemotors.co.uk and I have only just scratched the surface of places to see in this country and I am loving every minute of it, even with a far smaller income and its ups and downs. 

The  Covid 19 restrictions have been playing heavily on my mind over the last few weeks. I have found it hard to motivate myself to write the blog and engage on social media as much as I had been doing. Things I had been planning to do as part of my bid to challenge ageism have fallen by the wayside because of the restrictions imposed on various walks of society and the restrictions on freedom of movement to meet up etc. but hopefully that will change.

This left me feeling lost for a while without a sense of purpose. I also had some bad experiences with people being unfair on social media and I felt as if I was bullied and had no right of reply. But having spoken to people about this I realise if you want to use social media you have to develop a thick skin.  I am glad now that I had that interaction early on because it makes me realise that other people's insecurities should not determine how I am feeling and I need to stay focussed.

I have to say I was thrilled when I passed the thousand followers mark on my twitter @siobhandaniels and I am also pleased that I am gaining a strong following on Instagram @shuvonshuvoff , this has given me a renewed vigour for my travels. It is also really nice to meet up with some of my followers along the way  when I am in their stomping ground. It is nice to know that I am inspiring people to want to hit the road in retirement and they like what I am doing. On the whole I love the interaction I have with people on social media. I have been a guest blogger for some, written magazine articles for others and joined I webinar discussions and book clubs along the way. This has all helped me to feel mentally strong during this experience.

As I travel I am also interacting with all age groups because Age is different for all of us and we have different perspectives on ageing, no matter who we are, but we really do need to ditch the labels surrounding ageing. People often make many assumptions because of age both young and old. Whenever I get the opportunity I am actively confronting ageism. Even the other day in a clothes shop in Harrogate I got chatting to the young shop assistant who, when we got talking, was interested in my travels and my opinions of ageism. We had a long chat and she took my blog and Instagram details so she could follow me and I urged her to have the same type of discussions with her friends because I think it is vital we tackle ageism from a very young age, especially so we can change the narratives to be more positive with regards to how we age.  I pointed out to her that often the cosmetic industry advertises creams as ', Anti-ageing' and that this only adds to ageist attitudes, we are all ageing so we want lotions and potions to enhance ageing, not making it something negative.  We have to expose ageist attitudes no matter how trivial it seems so that we have a hope of making people in advertising and the media along with big corporate companies, stop getting it so wrong. Recently I was proud to have an article in Yorkshire businesswomen entitled 'Embrace the ageing process' @yorkshirebusinesswoman.co.uk/embrace-the-ageing-process 

I was born in Yorkshire and the first couple of decades of my life was spent in and around Yorkshire before I moved down south to Kent to work for BBC TV, where I lived for over twenty years. I loved my life in Tunbridge Wells and I have many good friends there and my daughter is settling there. But I have to say my heart is happy when I am in Yorkshire. The people are so warm and friendly and I do get a sense of belonging, which I don't get anywhere else as much.

The last three weeks I have been staying on a great campsite on Dykes Bottom Farm, a couple of miles outside of Harrogate it is a  www.caravanclub.co.uk certified location site, so you have to be a member. The beauty is they only take a few motorhomes or caravans and I have loved the location. It has enabled me to catch up with family and friends who live within a few miles of here and to go for long walks around the beautiful  Fewston and Swinsty Reservoirs.                                www.yorkshirewater.com/things-todo/fewstonwalk/. 

up with family and friends along the way is vital for my mental health because I am fundamentally a people person. I was always known for throwing a good party. So it has taken a lot of adjusting to life on the road on my own. I have realised that I do like my own company a lot and I do not get too lonely but after a few weeks I do feel sad if I have not physically connected with friends or family.

It is strange though, now that I have so much more time on my own, I have become acutely aware of what I need to do and not do to ensure my mental health is ok. Before I thought I always had to be doing something and be with people to be fully content. Whereas now I am realising that time alone doing absolutely nothing can be a strong and powerful thing to enable me to appreciate myself and the beauty of my life.

I am heading to Norfolk next week for a few weeks and thankfully I am going to meet up with more family along the way, which I know will be good for the Soul. I can recharge my batteries.