Indie’s Story

I’m Indie, I’m 25 years old and live on the south coast.

I have always been a water baby, I grew up mostly outside and was always a very active child.

As I grew into my teenage years I began to struggle with travel anxiety, I got extremely panicky thoughts when I left places of comfort, specifically outside the UK.

Every mile I got further away from my so called ‘safe places’, my hands would get shakier, my appetite would disappear, the tears would flood, my mind would tell me I was in immediate danger and needed to run back to safety.

For my work as a watersports and fitness instructor, I’m fortunate enough to travel around the globe for my job, but my mental state used to leave me dreading life changing opportunities and cancelling booked flights.

There were plenty of times where I had to leave certain jobs, locations, and trips because my mind took over my emotions. I was bombarded with shameful thoughts, raging imposter syndrome, and had zero self esteem.

In a bid to combat my excessive worrying whilst I was abroad, I began running short distances to distract my whirring mind, short distances became longer distances and running soon became a place I could trust. Once I realised I could take running with me wherever I went, because, hey, all I needed to run was my two feet and outdoor space, the fear of going away from my comfort zone got better.

In my early twenties I started weightlifting, trained as PT, and found that you can’t think about having butterflies in your tummy, or how weak you perceive yourself to be when you’re either trying to shift a heavy barbell around or inspire other people to motivate themselves!

Helping my clients find that shred of confidence and gumption within themselves to achieve their goals (ie, a box jump or windsurfing) reinforces the notion to me that getting on a plane to leave the comforts of home isn’t the worst thing in the world and you can change how your mental health effects you day to day. Being a warrior and shielding myself from negative thought patterns.

That being said, some days are harder than others and I have to fight the anxiety beast head on. It’s easy to slip into old habits and routines when anxiety tries to creep its way back into my life, but even 10 minutes of stretching or a lovely jog by the beach can flood my brain with endorphins enough to stop worrying so much.

Sport has no doubt, helped me to channel my inner warrior and be less of a worrier.