A lot has happened the last few weeks, like always haha. I've tried many times for as long as I can remember to NOT live octopus life, but I just have a need to create stuff, inspire others and follow my dreams. It makes me feel good and happy, it makes my life meaningful and it brings more self-confidence and balance than to just sit and wait for "the right timing" or let others tell me what to do (as in many cases at work). So I'm doomed (in my words: honored) to work with multiple projects simultaneously - for work or just for joy. Why? Life is a big palette of beautiful colors, that's why!
I've been adventuring professionally since 2011 and I became a dipl. adventurer in 2015 on the side of my full-time UX (user experience) design job. In 2016 I made full space for my adventures and started working as an expedition guide, and that's also how I found a way to move back up to Åre. Applying to an adventure guide education (Vildmarks- och äventyrsguideutbildningen i Åre, (Fjälledare)) came naturally and it truly was one of my best and most hectic years ever since I worked for Expeditionsresor and founded Adventure Stories simultaneously (and more). The education ended in September 2017 but I didn't get it on paper until now. I'm not sick often and it takes a lot to make me stay "home", but 3 out of 3 times that I've entered the avalanche part of the education (Svelav Pro 1, Summit Guides) I've been too ill to manage the practical parts of the course (if you've done it you know that it's physically demanding). It's good though since I've gotten a great deal of repetition, but the other week I finally spent 3 days outside and finished off my avalanche part of the "Fjälledarnormen", so now I'm a Swedish mountain guide also on paper. Yay! My influenza-flu? Well, I got a bad setback during/after the course and after two months the virus is still ghosting in my body.
But the best thing though is that now I can trust myself, I'm secure in who else to trust and which questions to ask when I go with friends and others who are convinced the terrain is safe. How do I know they know? How do they know they know if they haven't learnt all about it. The scariest part is that so many people take just a few steps outside the "secure" ski system to throw themselves and their kids out on the backside or down the gully without even having a clue of the risks they’re taking. It feels safe just because it’s reachable from the tourist zone and since “everybody” skis it, and you can’t not ski there cus you only have a week’s vacay. And no worries, cus you brought your avalanche gear so there’s no problem, right? Or maybe your friends just simply say it’s “super safe” and “nothing will happen”. How do you know they’re right? I mean, really? How do you know they really know that they know? Cus that which you don’t know... Maybe you were just one lucky bastard that day the sun was shining and you got some epic pow turns and a top notch pic for you insta that will give you heaps of likes and maybe even some new followers. The information needed to make the right decisions is extensive, expensive and time-consuming, so if you were visiting Åre but didn’t ever consider taking a course, how would you want that information to reach you (or everybody) so that you’d know where and how to go and where to not? An sms-service that notifies everyone who bought a ticket? A sign by the lifts? In elementary school? What's also happened is me cover girling for Åre Idag as an "Åre profile". I feel so honored when people acknowledge and want to highlight the word about my work as a lifestyle influencer, cus I know how hard it can be to feel stuck in a lifestyle that doesn't suit you and I really want to inspire and motivate people to find their own core values and head for them - for health, happiness and meaningfulness. But yes, it does feel weird to enter every building in town to meet my face everywhere I go haha! 😂 Also I didn't go through the nomination for Årets Turjente (thank you everyone who voted though!!), but I just got an influencer gig up in Lofoten so I'm going back up there in May - YAAASS! I've been trying to find ways to make it back up there in the spring and now I have a really good reason for it that also enables me to do so, cus it really feels like my second home, I LOVE going there and that's why I go there so often. Also I just implemented a good base for a new product that I'm developing (can't tell you anything atm, only tease hehe) and found the contacts that I need, which can be a really big mess if you don't reach the right people. Then my new splitboard arrived (Jones Solution) and was tested to my great great happiness, on a complete ice-covered Getryggen (Storulvån) in whiteout though, but oh WHAT A BOARD! The Antarctica project is moving forwards and I didn't find a boat nor any money yet, but I did get some good portals for it and the team is starting to take form, AND the storyboard to the film I'm making there is getting me extremely excited! Also we have some fun things going on at Adventure Stories, it's a real struggle to get the politics and money right when having a "travel" company so the admin parts are taking a lot of time atm. But we do have som great things coming up starting in March! I also got asked to do some talks and event gigs from now until this summer so you could say my next months are starting to take form properly haha. All this is aside work and there's a few things I didn't mention yet, but one thing is certain - one of the best things I know is heading out solo in the mountain and it's also very well-needed when joggling with life like an octopus to stay sane, balanced, mentally rested and fully energized throughout it all, so this weekend will be all about me, myself, my splitboard, my backyard mountains, my tent, my camera, my playfulness and no impressions but those within full presence in nature. Hope you enjoy your weekend, whatever you're up to! xx
