Tour Leading With MS
I took on the challenge of tour leading with MS in 2017 when I returned to the job after a 4 year break. Travel is my passion and sharing my love of different destinations has played a big part in my professional life.
I spent my first summer at university living in Valencia in Spain and working as a tour guide and pub crawl leader. By day, I would share the culture and beauty of historic Valencia with tourists through walking tours and tapas tours. By night, I helped them get very drunk in the best bars and nightclubs that the city has to offer– shoutout to Radio City in El Carmen!
Running Pub-crawls in Valencia!
Running Pub-crawls in Valencia!
My first job after university was working as a tour leader in South America for the UK based travel agency Journey Latin America. It was such a fantastic experience to get paid to show people around my favourite places in the world.
Not only did I get to revisit lots of incredible sites that most people only see once in a lifetime, such as Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls, I would also get weeks of “downtime” between tours. Used this downtime to explore new places by myself. Some of the highlights of my downtime were spending 3 weeks living on the Galapagos Islands, relaxing in the paradise that is Ilha Grande in Brazil and exploring the ancient cultures of Northern Peru. It was an incredible year and I loved it!
The Galapagos
Lake Titicaca
Machu Picchu
So, unsurprisingly the place that I most wanted to go back to after my MS diagnosis was South America. Having decided that I was quitting teaching early on in 2017, I began to plan a 3 month backpacking trip. It was only when I talked to an old colleague at Journey Latin America who mentioned that they might be looking for an ad hoc tour leader to lead a couple of tours that I considered combining work with travel again.
Of course, I had a few concerns about tour leading with MS: would my symptoms be ok? Would I get enough sleep? Would I be able to manage my stress levels? But I really had nothing to worry about.
What I realised, as I had done during my summer of travelling in Malaysia after my first year of teaching, doing what I love and being happy helps to minimise my MS symptoms. I love tour leading and I relish the challenges that it brings: thinking on my feet when the bus breaks down or there’s a strike or road blockade (welcome to Bolivia!); helping my passengers learn about each country and making special efforts to share hidden gems and experiences with them. To many people, this would be their worst nightmare, but for me, it is what feeds my soul.
As such, I barely experienced any of my MS symptoms during the entire 3 months that I was away, but that’s not to say that I wasn’t ill for the whole 3 months...it is South America after all!
The Andean Flamingo Tour
I ran two tours of 3 weeks each with 3 weeks downtime in between. My first tour was the Andean Flamingo which started in Lima before jumping in altitude to Cusco and Machu Picchu and then travelling overland to La Paz via Lake Titicaca. We then journeyed even higher across the Uyuni salt flats and slept at 4000m above sea level one night.
Now, it was this that made me pretty sick which came as a complete surprise as I had lived and travelled at altitude many times before. For the first time ever I experienced not being able to sleep because, as my breathing slowed down, there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air. Every time I would start to nod off my body would wake me up!
I also spent the whole of the next day vomiting my way across the altiplano which was not so fun! None of this was related to my MS though and it was all bearable and easily treated with coca tea, plenty of water and some electrolyte drinks.
The Andean Flamingo finished in the Chilean capital, Santiago. I love Santiago as it is extremely cosmopolitan and I even managed to find Korean food which made me very happy!
Machu Picchu
Cusco Street Art
Me and My Llama
Downtime 1- Challenge time!
During my first 3 weeks of independent travelling I revisited one of my favourite places in South America, which is Pucón in the Chilean Lake District. I wanted to go back to Pucón as I had never been there without a tour group and I wanted to have time to explore at my leisure.
I also wanted to climb the Villarica volcano which is 2,847m high. This was a challenge that I had set for myself to see if I could still push myself physically, even with MS. I’m not going to lie, it was absolutely one of the most terrifying things I have ever done in my life! Not because of my MS, but because I am petrified of heights and we climbed up most of the volcano in the snow with wind howling around us!
Reaching the top felt absolutely incredible though and the views were breathtaking. We even got to slide back down the volcano on little trays, controlling our speed with an ice pick (!). I felt so proud to have climbed to the top as not everyone in our group made it. In fact, it was an all female group that reached the top which felt pretty special.
View From The Summit
The Ascent
Villarica Volcano From Pucón
After Pucón I crossed the border into Argentina and spent a few days hiking around the lakes of Bariloche before heading to Puerto Madryn for a spot of whale watching and penguin colony visiting.
Finally, I arrived in Buenos Aires with a few days to enjoy the city and catch up with old friends before beginning the next tour.
Penguins at Punta Tumbo
Spring in Buenos Aires
Hiking Around Bariloche
The Pato Andino Tour
The Pato Andino tour is such a fantastic tour that winds through the Andes and takes in some of South America’s wildest landscapes.
We started in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, and indulged in lots of steaks, before flying to Salta in the extreme North-West of Argentina. Here we had the pleasure of indulging in Argentinian wine during a day trip to the vineyards of Cafayate after winding through the Quebrada de las Conchas.
Our journey continued across the Andes and across the border into Chile and the town of San Pedro de Atacama before we traversed the stunning landscape of the Bolivian altiplano and the Salar de Uyuni. Thankfully this time I wasn’t ill!
The rest of the tour was pretty much the reverse of the Andean Flamingo and took in La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Machu Picchu and finished in Lima.
La Quebrada de Humahuaca
The Salar de Uyuni
Sunset in Lima
What I learned from tour leading with MS
Both tours that I led were gorgeous and with fantastic passengers. It was quite poignant for me as I had finished my first year of tour leading after university quite abruptly due to family issues. So having the chance to return to South America to not only tour lead again, but also tour lead successfully with MS, meant the world to me.
It was even more empowering and reassured me that I had made the right decision to quit teaching. Tour leading with MS made no difference to my ability to lead successfully. In fact, because I was doing something that I loved and that brought me joy, my symptoms were almost non-existent. I was running around cities, walking lots every day and spending quite a lot of time at altitude and my body was strong. My experience of tour leading with MS has inspired me to continue to create a life and job that I love, because being happy and minimising stress levels helps me to manage my MS.
What brings you joy? Do you find that travelling or being on holiday affects your MS symptoms?
Let me know in the comments below.
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The pros and cons of running a business with MS
There are many pros and cons to running a business with MS. When I left teaching in 2017, I set up my own business as a freelance social media manager. Since then I have developed my skills and now offer full digital marketing services including digital marketing strategy, social media management, social media paid-for advertising, as well as blog writing and copy editing services too.
I am still freelance, but have developed close working relationships with other agencies and freelancers who I work with on a regular basis. I am even branching into the Chinese markets to support Chinese businesses to reach an international audience! I’m really excited about this as it means that I can put my Chinese degree to good use and my understanding of the different cultural nuances gives me an edge.
Alongside the digital marketing business, my fiancé and I also launched a Destination Management Company (DMC) for South-West England called Velius Travel. Velius Travel delivers private, bespoke, luxury travel for visitors to the UK in multiple languages. Having welcomed our first Russian group to Bristol in January 2020, everything was looking very promising. However, the minor issue of a global pandemic put somewhat of a spanner in the works!
In the meantime, we are in the process of pivoting and setting up an online shop instead, so I’ll keep you updated on how all that goes!
As you can see, I am generally pretty busy and spin lots of different plates and I do love it! However, it isn’t always sunshine and rainbows running a business for anyone, let alone someone who is living with MS. So I want to share with you what I think are the pros and cons of running a business (or businesses!) while living with MS.
Pros
Can create a routine that works for you
I love running my own business as it gives me the freedom to pursue and create the life that I want. I know how much money I want to earn and I know how many hours a week I want to work. So, I have created a business plan that enables me to do that.
Very early on in setting up my business, I understood that working full-time was not going to work for me. Working full-time hours doesn’t give me the flexibility to work when I feel good and take breaks or a day off when my symptoms are flaring. It ultimately doesn’t give me the time to take care of myself which is essential to managing my MS.
So, my working day routine looks something like this:
6:50 am Wake up
7:20am Go for a walk (aiming for approx. 10,000 steps) with a flask of coffee
9am Shower and breakfast
10am Start work
1pm Lunch break (this can range from anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on my tiredness and concentration levels)
3pm - 6pm Work
Obviously, this varies, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what a working day looks like for me.
The important thing to know is that this isn’t what all of my Monday to Fridays look like. Some days I don’t work and other days I work for a few hours. It's my choice.
Obviously I have deadlines and tasks to complete for clients, but by communicating clearly and managing deadline expectations, I continue to maintain excellent working relationships with them and give my body the rest that it needs.
View of the Bristol Downs on my morning walks
View of the Bristol Downs on my morning walks
Can react to how your body is feeling
Reacting to how your body is feeling is so important. When I was teaching, my MS symptoms were the worst they’ve ever been and that was because I couldn’t listen to my body. There were non-negotiable deadlines and responsibilities that I had to meet which meant that I couldn’t have a nap, or sleep longer, or just not go to work and so my MS symptoms persisted.
Now, running my own business, I have created a flexible work environment that allows for rest. I have learned how to manage my workload to minimise stress. All of this means that, not only do I generally have much less severe MS symptoms than when I was teaching, but also when my symptoms do get worse, I can listen to my body and give it the rest that it needs.
There’s no one telling you what to do
Now this is a big one and for me and can be both a pro and a con of running a business with MS, or not!
In terms of managing my MS it is definitely a pro as it means that I can negotiate deadlines with clients and that I am fully responsible for creating a project timetable that works for both parties. Obviously, if I fail to meet deadlines that would be a problem (I don’t!), but what it does allow is for me to be the mistress of my own destiny. Once the timetable has been agreed, I then get to decide when I complete the work- on which days and at which time.
On a professional level, not having anyone telling you what to do can be a con if you let it, as it means that responsibility for completing any task lies solely with you. There is (probably!) nobody shouting at you to do something, particularly if it is to do with your own business development. So learning how to be self-motivated and have integrity to myself was a sharp learning curve when starting my businesses.
Can earn more and work less
When you run your own business, YOU decide how much your skill set and time is worth and which clients or customers will be right for you and vice versa. It requires you to be confident in the value that you bring to a client and being ok with a client saying ,”No,” if your fee is too high for them. It takes really believing in what you are worth to understand that while they might be saying, “No,” that doesn’t mean that you aren’t good or that they don’t value what you can bring to them; it is just that they don’t have the right budget to afford you and that means that they also weren’t the right client for you.
It does take time to work this out and internalise it, but when you do, magic happens.
I now earn 50% more than when I was a teacher and probably work 50% less hours. I intend to increase the amount that I am earning over the next few years with the development of the online shop and (hopefully!) the return of the travel business too. However, I don’t intend to hugely increase the amount of hours that I work. Again, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes, but that is the possibility that I am creating for my life!
I have time for walks with friends
I have time for walks with friends
Cons
These cons apply to anyone running a business, but are particularly relevant for anyone running a business with MS.
How I feel sometimes!
How I feel sometimes!
No sick pay
Not having sick pay is a daunting prospect when facing a relapse. Struggling to get out of bed, struggling to concentrate and knowing that you have work to complete is not a great situation to be in.
I know that this is one of the biggest reasons for staying in employment and I completely understand why. Equally, I have experienced a huge reduction in the severity of my symptoms since leaving employment. To be honest, I had no time off when I was teaching due to MS, it was always the odd day here and there with the flu! So not having sick pay never really factored into my decision of setting up my own business.
Moreover, planning for it and putting contingency plans in place can minimise the risk to your business if you do have a relapse or your symptoms flare.
If you don’t have a team, you are the weakest link
Not having a team is something that I am very aware of and is one of my business goals for the next year. Like I’ve mentioned, I already have systems in place to ensure that not having a team doesn't affect the work that I deliver for any clients. However, not having a team not only means that you are the weakest link, but it also puts a cap on your business growth potential as there is only so much work that one person can do.
As Allen F. Morgenstern said, “work smarter, not harder.”
Personally, I don’t just want to build a team because of having MS. I want to build a team so that I can focus on developing a business that can grow. By not having me at the centre of the business I am creating the possibility of growth, being financially independent and starting a family while still being a contribution to my clients and future customers and suppliers. This is something that I’m really passionate and excited about and I can't wait to make it happen in 2021!
The Volare Marketing Partnership Team
The Volare Marketing Partnership Team
I’d love to know how you find working or running a business with MS. Are you looking to make a change in your career or start a new one?
Let me know by leaving a comment below!
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How I stopped playing small and being scared
It was a Friday morning in November 2019 and I was sitting in a conference room in Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol. I was sitting in a room with rows of chairs facing the front with about 90 other people and wondering what the hell I was about to experience for the next weekend.
I was about to attend the Landmark Forum after a couple of friends had invited me to do it for over a year. To be honest, I was there to appease them and thought that maybe I could get some help in improving my business and make more money. I was not there for any kind of breakthrough to do with MS, that is for sure.
The realisation
Within the first 30 minutes our leader asked the simple question, “What future do you want to create?” and it really hit me. I knew the future that I wanted, but I had absolutely no belief that I would ever achieve it because now I had MS. During the 4 years since I had been diagnosed, doubt and fear had slowly crept into my life and wrapped themselves around my future like an ivy slowly suffocating my ambitions and I hadn’t even noticed. I had gone from thinking that everything was possible for me in life to living a small life governed by fear about making my MS worse.
When my leader Michelle asked that question, I put my hand up and shared that I wanted to run a successful business, but that I didn’t think it was possible because I had MS. I also burst into tears. She said that by the end of the weekend I would have “disappeared” my MS. As I continued to sob at the realisation of what I had lost, I agreed to commit to fully participating in the coaching course for the weekend. However, the possibility of “disappearing my MS” didn’t seem realistic and I didn’t really believe that she understood the physical challenges that MS presents and that they aren’t something that you can just “disappear”. However, I was willing to give it a go.
So what exactly is the Landmark Forum?
It is very hard to describe what actually happens during the Landmark Forum. It sounds so simple and straightforward...your leader shares distinctions, you share your experiences and thoughts and feelings and over the course of 3 days, people have epiphanies and breakthroughs in every aspect of their lives. The experience is different for every person as we are all dealing with our own issues, but there are common themes that appear in terms of improved confidence, freedom of self expression, healing of broken relationships etc.
The breakthrough
My big breakthrough that completely changed my life happened on the Saturday night. We did an activity which involved facing your fear. We all closed our eyes for what must have been over an hour. We imagined our biggest fear and were invited to fully feel it. We could shout and scream and get physically present to it (weird, I know, but it worked!).
I suddenly saw a wheelchair and I was absolutely petrified of it. For me, the wheelchair was potentially the end game of having MS. It was the worst reality that I could imagine and not only that, but I believed that if I was in a wheelchair my fiancé Jon would stop loving me.
Through doing this exercise and after having been in the Forum for 2 days, I realised that I don’t need to be scared of the wheelchair. I don’t need to be scared of it, because I am completely in control of how I respond to everything that happens in my life. A wheelchair is just a wheelchair. I had made it mean so many other things: that it would ruin my life; that no one would love me; that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my life.
The fear of ending up in a wheelchair had made me play small and live my life in an ever smaller bubble. I didn’t push myself while at work and would stop working and give in to even the slightest flare of my symptoms because of the fear of my MS getting worse. I had developed a real paranoia and obsession about getting enough sleep and had got addicted to a sleep app that told me if I’d had a “good sleep”. Even if I felt like I’d slept well, if the app said it wasn’t good quality, I created the reality that my day wasn’t going to go well and that I didn’t have enough energy instead of actually listening to my body. It was a vicious circle.
On the final night of the Landmark Forum, I stood up in front of all the participants, as well as my entire family, and shared my breakthrough. It meant the world to me when my Dad said that he knew I was smart, but he hadn’t known how brave I was. I felt so powerful and I took this power with me into doing the next course in the series in London.
Being more than my worries and concerns
The Advanced Course focuses on the idea that we are all a big body of concerns that run our lives. E.g. I’m scared of what people think of me, I’m tired, I’m hungry, this isn’t fair and it is these thoughts that dictate how we live. The Advance Course aims to have everyone work outside of their body of concerns by working at the level of the group. This involves being responsible not just for yourself and your success in the course, but that of everyone else who is participating too.
Again, it sounds so simple, but for me this weekend reinforced my ability to be more than my MS and to be more than my symptoms. The course days are really long: 10am - 10pm for 3 days, plus a Tuesday evening. However, I was so inspired by working as part of a group and being responsible for everyone, not just myself, that I really didn’t experience symptoms during the entire weekend. I wasn’t tired, I didn’t notice any hunger, or if I did, it wasn’t a reason to disengage with what we were doing as part of the course.
The results
They say that how you do the courses is how you do life and I realised that if I’d been able to focus and be engaged for that long on approximately 5 hours sleep each night and not give in to my symptoms, then I could do that in my daily life too. I could stop playing small.
That is not to say that I don’t listen to my body and give it what it needs (mainly sleep or meditation!), but it does mean that I don’t give in to every little twinge when it arises. This is possible because I am no longer scared of making those little twinges mean terrible and scary things. I also know that I can take action in spite of having MS symptoms, especially when I have a clear intention and mission in life that is more important than my own body of concerns.
Participating in the Landmark Forum and subsequent seminars is also why this blog exists. I came full circle in the grieving process and had reached “acceptance”, but I still wasn’t connected with the MS community. During the Advanced Course I created the possibility of being power, love and inspiration. So, I let go of all of my worries about my MS “not being bad enough to write about” and decided to just write about my experience.
My hope is that if even one person finds what I write useful in some way, then I will be happy, so please do let me know what you think about the blog in the comments!
Also, if you would like to find out more about the Landmark Forum, you can visit their website: https://www.landmarkworldwide.com or drop me an email using the contact form.
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