Hillwalking Changed My Life by Billy London

I am a man of forty and from my early twenties I have suffered from mental illness. At my worst point I felt very low and was hearing voices in my head. I was so bad that I was admitted to hospital. It made me feel that I could not go back home as I was afraid and I could not communicate with anyone about how I felt and they could not hear what I was hearing. I found it hard, the hardest thing in my life. The hospital tried different medications for me and because they kept changing them I felt that I couldn’t trust them and that they were just using me as a guinea pig. One day they introduced me to an outpatients department and I met others with mental illnesses. The group discussions about how we were feeling made me realise that I was not alone. I was then transferred to a Recreational Therapy Department where I was introduced to other activities.

One of the activities that you could choose to do was hillwalking. One Friday in November 1999  was a day that changed my life, I went on an outdoor adventure to Windy Hill. It was a beautiful day, sunshine and blue sky all around us. I sat down and looked at the scenery, mountains, hills, trees and all the wildlife. We saw sheep, cattle and birds of prey including kestrels and eagles. Even just listening to the birds singing I then realized that there was a whole world out there that I had never experienced in my life. This new adventure in hillwalking gave me a new perspective on life; it opened up my eyes to the beautiful countryside around me beyond the four walls of my home.

Since I started hillwalking I have gone on regular walks taking me to lots of places in Scotland, I have even walked the West Highland Way, stayed in hostels and wigwams; it was great apart from the snoring of my companions! We even discovered who talks in their sleep! It was sometimes hard but I still carried on as I was encouraged by the staff to keep going and I feel a great sense of achievement when I complete the walks. I have even attempted other activities such as horse riding, badminton, karate and enjoy going to the gym.

The walks made me feel much better, I feel warm inside and this changes how I feel, it lightens my mood being close to nature and escaping from the noise of the city, people in the streets, drinking and hanging around aimlessly. All the people who know me such as the RT staff, my Psychiatrist and my support worker all see the difference that this has made to me and how it has changed my life.

I will be on medication for the rest of my life, but having experienced the outdoors has greatly improved my condition. I have now had the confidence to move on to other opportunities. I would not have liked to have lived and not experienced the outdoor life, the fresh air and all the beauty surrounding us. I wanted to write this story to encourage others to take up the outdoors.

Anyone can do it, just put one foot in front of the other. It can be short or long distances, a mile or ten they should give it a go. It is not a cure, you still carry your illness when you are walking, but during the walks you feel the pressure lift and by the time you come back you feel much better. I also noticed that a few of my walking companions even gave up smoking after starting to hillwalk. They were out of breath at times and realized that they were not as fit as they could be. This was an incentive for them to stop as they did not smoke when walking but were encouraged only to have a cigarette on breaks so cut down. This also gave them time to appreciate what was around them. So in every way it makes us fitter.

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