Today Is the Youngest You Will Ever Be

Finding Yoga Rise

Angela has invited me to do a blog about myself, so here it is: Hello, I’m Nic, and I met Angela when she first set up YB/YR and offered free yoga sessions as an introduction to her new and very peaceful studio. I loved it, and since then I have attended as regularly as I can, and not just Angela’s classes, but classes with other teachers too.

However, I haven’t been for a while, as I’ve just completed 7 months out of 12 travelling the world.

Our One Shot at Life

I managed to take 12 months off work, which I am truly grateful for and ‘lucky’ to be able to finance through blowing the inheritance I received after my dad died in 2024. Obviously, as you get older, or not, in some sad cases, you experience death, and having my own recent family deaths and working as a nurse at Trinity Hospice make me very aware that this is it. This is our one shot at life, and we can’t relive or repeat any of it. I’ve always been one to go and enjoy life, but now, during my midlife, menopausal age, I’m very awake to ensuring I do so. Travel isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it is mine, and I like trying as many cups of tea as I can!

How Travel Found Me

I’m not sure what motivates me to travel solo, as I have done so since the age of 19. Prior to that, I went to, and still attend, concerts on my own (weirdo!). Being raised in a household where my dad suffered with substance addiction (I’m surprised he lived to be 69, to be completely honest!), you rely on yourself from a young age. And maybe I was running away a bit, but in that escapism, I found my own healthier addiction: travel.

The Itchy Feet Return

The thing is, once you start travelling, the itchy feet feel increasingly itchy every now and again. Nearly 30 years on from my first solo trip, and many trips in between, I’m back at it, although it seems harder at the ripe old age of 47 (nearly 48… gulp!). I was happily settled at work, at home and in my relationships, but I knew I would regret not having another shot at a long stint of being nomadic. This time, I had an older head on my shoulders and more cash in my back pocket. So I just went for it, and here I am in Nukus, a city in the desert of Uzbekistan.

Travelling at 47

It’s harder now that I’m not in my 20s, as I don’t want to share dorm rooms anymore (getting on the top bunk is not very graceful, if it ever was). Plus, with menopause symptoms, I do not think it’s fair to share a room and subject other folk to witnessing my bare boobs and bum when I’m having a hot flush. I’m sure that the initial mild case of traveller’s diarrhoea has now developed into full-blown holiday IBS.

I have spent 95% of it on my own (which, as an introvert, is perfect). Moving ‘home’ every 2, 3 or 4 days can be exhausting, lifting my bloody big backpack is getting hard work, and I often wish it would go missing just so I no longer have to carry it. But one of my favourite quotes is, ‘Today is the youngest you will ever be.’ And that keeps me putting that bag on my back and wandering.

What Makes It Worthwhile

But the positives outweigh the negatives, as I have witnessed jaw-dropping landscapes, from the icy Antarctic to the volcanic eruptions of Guatemalan volcanoes; Costa Rican birds (yes, I have embraced the birdwatching era) so colourful they look fake; and, while snorkelling in the Galapagos, neon fish that look alien to this world.

Plus, the inclusion of people: the locals, who are a lot more hospitable than I will ever be, and backpackers from around the world, with whom you just click and have an instant connection. From meeting random people from every walk of life, you gain and learn a lot, and now, as a veteran traveller, you can share your knowledge and experiences along the way too.

Taking Yoga on the Road

As for my yoga practice, well, I have failed, as I’ve only joined one class of very bendy 20-odd-year-olds in a hostel, and I felt super stiff and old. But what I have learned from attending Angela’s classes is that I use some yoga in my daily life, such as abdominal breathing if I’m feeling anxious, various stretches after sitting on a bus for 20-plus hours, the cooling breath for the obvious, and square breathing when I feel self-conscious.

Until January

Hopefully, I will be back in the studio in January, but until then, the next destination awaits.

Story by Yoga Rise student Nicola Lewis (Nic)