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!

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!

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!

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! 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

Let me know in the comments below.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 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.

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!

Let me know by leaving a comment below!

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.