Say Yes More...

If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s something more to life, this is your chance to be left in no doubt that yes, you are brilliant, and yes, the future is even more so. Dave Cornthwaite, Say Yes More & Yestival founder

My Atlantic Endeavour teammate Becky and I have spent the Autumn meeting some incredible people, building our adventure networks, and getting inspired for the ocean row and other projects in 2016.

The season kicked off in October with "Yestival" - a concept created by the ubiquitous adventurer, Dave Cornthwaite with three little words... Say Yes More. This simple phrase is in fact an ethos of creating small lifestyle choices that add up to big changes, from chasing that once-in-a-lifetime adventure to having the courage to leave a job to pursue a dream. Dave has now inspired a movement, and as we have discovered, a "Yes Tribe" that we are now proud to be part of!

And so we set off to Surrey one damp Friday evening, excited yet apprehensive about what lay in store. But we were comforted by the fact that whoever (and whatever) lay in the field ahead was also drawn by the idea of creating a festival of community, positive mindset, and adventurous thinking... and liked to camp in the cold in the UK... we were bound to get along!

The weekend consisted of workshops and talks during the day - from Sean Conway (just say no more!), Sophie Radcliffe, James Borrell, Belinda Kirk, Niall McCann, Anna McDuff, to the fantastic Meek Family (please adopt us?!), which led to animated discussions over hot cider, tales of adventures in tents, and a melting pot of ideas around the campfire in the evening. Not to mention the early starts with Project Awesome :) I've never felt so motivated by a group of 200 strangers in the field! One of the most poignant points of the weekend was burning a giant NO sign, for all the things that hold us back. By Sunday I'd received enough inspiration (and hugs) to last a lifetime.

But it wasn't just a great weekend; Yestival has stuck with us weeks later as a reminder of what life should be about - that deep realisation of what makes us happy and the power of our human potential. Becky and I left the field feeling more positive about the row, knowing what amazing adventures people we'd met had achieved and obstacles they'd overcome, and feeling empowered to see our campaign through to the end.

A few weeks later (via a work trip to Bangalore, India) I found myself at our first "Yes Tribe" gathering in the offices of Escape the City. We saw a host of familiar (slightly less grubby) faces from the camping weekend, and heard some more inspiring talks from Esc the City founder - Rob Symington, Uganda marathon founder - Henry Blanchard, and Dave himself. Not only was it a great excuse to catch up with our new found friends, but reaffirm our positive mindset. Sometimes its scary to take that first step, to go away from the clear path ahead and make your own track, but its also important to follow your dreams. Randy Komisar said - "the most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later". We should follow what resonates within us, what we are passionate about and build our lives around that. Of course I have days when rowing across an ocean seems like an unachievable goal - not only because of the intimidating waves, but also the huge sponsorship target and training regime. But we want to reach that goal, and at the end of the day we have to keep focused and know in our hearts that nothing will stand in our way. And yes, Becky and I did "Say Yes More" and signed up to the Uganda marathon too... so watch this space!

Still continuing on a positive trend, we both (almost skipped by this point) into Explore 2015 in November at the Royal Geographical Society. Explore is the RGS's annual fieldwork and expedition planning weekend, pulling together over 90 leading field scientists and explorers. It was a unique opportunity to hear firsthand accounts, experience, and advice from some of the leaders in their fields on expedition planning and execution. One talk that particularly struck us was James Borrell's on "Citizen Science" and we are keen to explore how we can integrate some scientific research into our ocean row. With a marine biologist on board we certainly have a good head start and will be looking for a specific project over the next few months. In the afternoon we broke up into various small groups for specific workshops - I went to one on mountaineering, and Becky on marine projects. I got a lot of invaluable personal advice from mountaineering and climbing experts such as Rebecca Coles and Seth Ford about setting up your own expedition to far flung ranges and unclimbed peaks, as well as which courses to take in leadership / first aid etc to make it successful. Can't wait to put them into practice!

We bumped into Dave Cornthwaite shortly after who (after another hug) reminded us of the "dragons den" session at the end of the day, and encouraged us to pitch our campaign. In the spirit of "Say Yes More" I readily agreed! However as the clock ticked to the the session, I grew more and more apprehensive at the thought standing up in one of the most historic places on earth for exploration and present to some of my idols whose adventures I had read about over the years. Suddenly there was a call for the first pitch and I found myself standing in the lecture hall before a panel of Dave Cornthwaite, Emily Penn, Felicity Aston, Neil Laughton, Ben Saunders, Andrew Harper and James Borrell. However something kick-started inside me and I found myself talking confidently about our plans, and in return they gave us some fantastic advice! Overall it was a great experience and again we left on a high and fuelled with ideas for the 12 months ahead.

It's easy to get sucked into a monotonous life of work, eat, sleep, drink... and forget what our true passions in life are. The events this Autumn not only reminded and focussed me on these, but also provided practical advice on how to reach those goals. As Thomas Edison said "If we all did the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves". So Say Yes More, follow your heart, and you may just surprise yourself with what you achieve in 2016...