everest rescue - wing walking - winning at life

good morning bigmoose blog readers, how was your week?

was it as exciting as mandy quiney’s?

last week i wrote about being 'more kev’ after hanging out with my mate kevin webber who has terminal prostate cancer, and still has a massive thirst for life, and looks at things through such a massively positive lens, and my purpose of sharing his story was unashamedly to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, do something daring, stretch yourself, and find more joy, more stories to tell, more memories to have, and if i’m honest i wanted to inspire you to take action, living life to the max.

after sending out last weeks blog, i received a message from mandy quiney, a friend of mine from my streatham ice hockey days, who i first met over 40 years ago, and wife of my team mate pete quiney, who i played my first ever time at wembley with, and a good friend of moose’s.

mandy and pete have three sons, and during her life has fought and beaten cancer herself, she is one helluva battler, and i have always loved her company and smiling enthusiasm for life, so i was thrilled to read her message, i hope she doesn’t mind me sharing it.

jeff- reading this has got me thinking….. I’m currently in cornwall- finding joy in looe (music weekend) - but I’d love to do something physical which brings joy too - so if there’s something you think that I could jump in on - please let me know?

this is what i live for, this is like the lights turning green at formula 1, like the rocket engines igniting before take off, like the ref blowing the whistle at the start of the world cup final.

i am crap at loads of things in life, admin, excel spreadsheets, trello, finding stuff that is hidden in the fridge, but ask me to help you find a challenge, and i really am your guy.

you will pretend that i am dangerous, and possibly forced you, but gimme a green light and i am down the track like a racing hot rod with flames coming out of the tail pipe!

a few emails later, mandy is now signed up to do wing walking, which is amazing, but she has also agreed to abseiling off newport transporter bridge next year.

mandy is taking heeeeuge action and i couldn’t be happier, as i know she is going to love both adventures, but also how proud will her boys and friends all over the world be of her, living life to the fullest, and inspiring others as she goes, so mandy, congratulations, i am extremely proud of you, and can’t wait to share these experiences with you.

so, this is an example of taking action, but personally, it is very much my reward for getting up at crazy o clock to write this blog weekly, hopefully inspiring you, entertaining you, and sharing our bigmoose adventures with you, and creating positive change in your life, and if you read this and want some encouragement, just email me, i literally love helping people find adventure. 

so, as well as encouraging others to be 'more kev’ last week, i mentioned i might have found an adventure of my own, and after contemplating adventure with parkinsons in tow, i have decided to go back to nepal and everest.

i won’t be climbing to the top of everest this time, but will be going to base camp, a tough feat in itself, and then climbing a 6119m mountain called lobuche in the khumbu region, a twenty day adventure, which is truly going to push me in my current health condition, and i honestly don’t know if i can do it, but that’s the point right, stepping out of the comfort zone, being scared, doubting whether it’s possible, and then seeing what is possible.

as i write this i am very scared, but am going to do my absolute best, so wish me luck on this next stage of my life’s adventure.

i am going with aga adventures, a climbing company owned and run by the amazing adriana brownlee, a 22 year old mountaineer on track to become the youngest person ever to summit all 14 8000m peaks, and her partner gelje sherpa, also 25 times 8000m peak summiteer, so a tremendously experienced climber and also in my eyes a hero who saved a climbers life on everest last year, watch this mind blowing video.

adri and gelje know about my pd, and have told me they are going to get me to the top, so as well as being scared, i am also extremely confident i have chosen the right team, onward and upward, training starts now.

in other news, i have just put out the recycling before the van arrives, so today i am very much winning 😂

i am now also looking at finishing the week strong with an open day today at pencoed primary school, who we have partnered with, to provide mental health first aid to their children, teachers, and children’s parents, as well as them fundraising for bigmoose, a fantastic two way relationship, which is blossoming beautifully, so if you are a teacher or know a teacher that would like a chat about how we can help provide our services, drop me a line, we’d love to help.

here is picture from earlier this year with all the children wearing bigmoose spotty tees, as they all did laps of the sports ground, great fun to watch. 

so i hope your day brings you joy, and as i looked for the picture above, i found another pic i haven’t referenced for a while, which i still love, so here it is.

have a great week, and thanks for reading.

blue skies,

jeff