Climbing Mountains for Changes Bristol
It is very un-British to blow our own trumpet and tell people of the great things we are doing. That is why I am writing this on behalf of my sister Kathryn.
Over the past few years she has raised thousands of pounds for mental health charities taking on challenges that most of us would never dream of attempting – canoeing the width of Scotland, cycling to Paris, and climbing Kilimanjaro. Her latest fund raising adventure is to climb to Mount Everest base camp this April.
Kathryn’s achievements are all the more amazing because they require her to overcome her own mental health challenges – self-doubt, bad anxiety and anxiousness. Suffering from these difficulties it would be easy for her to give up, and at times there are tears…quite often actually…but she doesn’t give up. She sets her goals and pushes through the mental barriers that cause so many of us to stumble. In my eyes this makes her achievements all the more remarkable.
How Changes Bristol have helped…
She has found the peer support from Changes Bristol’s groups to be a real anchor in her week. It is somewhere safe where she can be herself and share her successes and her struggles when her anxiety is overwhelming her without fear of any judgement.
This is why all money raised from her upcoming Everest trip will go to Changes Bristol. So, if you can offer a donation, however small, thank you. It would be so gratefully received and put to good use helping the Changes Bristol groups carry on their good work.
But the greater gift is for you to be inspired by Kathryn to climb your own mountains.
It doesn’t have to be Everest; attend a Changes Bristol support group on a day you just want to hide yourself away, see a friend even when the voices in your head tell you nobody likes you, even just get out of bed on a day when that feels like the highest mountain in the world.
These are all massive achievements that no-one will sponsor you for, but believe me, everyone who has struggled with their mental health will see the courage and bravery that it takes to scale these mountains day after day.
So, well done to my marvellous sister and well done to all of you too.
You are all mountaineers in your own right.
To donate and support Kathryn click here.