When posed the increasingly common question of, 鈥淪o, why did you move to Squamish?鈥� my answer usually surprises people.聽
I reply with, 鈥淭o chase my dream of becoming a professional videogamer!鈥� After the initial laughter has subsided and they see I am being serious their eyebrows raise out of curiosity.聽
Those who know me now would likely describe me as the 鈥渙utdoorsy鈥� type. I like to spend my free time in the mountains exploring new places and pushing my body. I鈥檓 excited about all types of recreation in wild places from running, skiing, backpacking or climbing. But it wasn鈥檛 always this way.聽
In 2010, I left my home country of Ireland behind and came directly to 麻豆社国产with my wife. When I stepped off the plane in the Vancouver airport my body weighed over 300 pounds. I鈥檇 only brought a suitcase of possessions with me, having sold off everything else before leaving, but among those few items was my custom-built arcade controller for competing in the videogame 鈥淪treet Fighter.鈥�
My wife is Canadian, which is why we moved to Canada. 麻豆社国产was actually picked on a whim as we had been looking for somewhere on the West Coast to immigrate to. In 2010, 麻豆社国产was in the Irish news due to the Winter Olympics. It seemed like as good a place as any so we decided to go for it.聽
Few people might be aware of it but the western U.S. is huge for professional videogaming, or E-sports as they are called. I had imagined that after getting settled I鈥檇 be doing road trips up and down the coast from Seattle to Los Angeles and over to Las Vegas to compete in tournaments for cash prizes.聽
Those plans all quickly faded once I set foot in 麻豆社国产for the first time. What had been driving me for decades, since I first started playing videogames as a kid, evaporated. My gaming controller was never unpacked.
I knew nothing about hiking or being outdoors. Back in Ireland on sunny days I would say, 鈥淭he weather is so beautiful today. I think I鈥檒l play videogames with the windows open for a change.鈥� I saw no value in being outside where the weather fluctuated from uncomfortably hot to bitterly cold, or dealing with bugs, humidity, mud and rain.聽
But something clicked in Squamish. I had been near mountains before on vacation but only viewed them then as scenery. Now that I was living among them it felt different.聽
Everyday I would look up at them and wonder what was out there. You can鈥檛 get away from the wild in Squamish. It rises up all around, peering down at you always, beckoning to parts of my human spirit that had been left blank before.聽
I came to realize that the feelings of challenge I had found in videogames could only ever be a poor substitute for the experiences I could have out in the peaks and valleys all around me in my new home.
I had gained all my weight as a result of being sedentary for so long and lost it as a result of starting to move. At no point did I ever plan to lose weight; it was simply the result of climbing mountains.聽
I often joked, 鈥淔at doesn鈥檛 like going uphill. If you try and take it uphill enough it will eventually revolt and leave you.鈥�
I threw myself headfirst into mountain sports, going camping for the first time when I was close to 30 years old.聽
I would use the Internet ferociously to consume as much information as possible. When I鈥檇 go out on a trip I鈥檇 keep a list of everything that didn鈥檛 work or didn鈥檛 make sense to me and then spend my evenings trying to answer those questions like 鈥淲hat is Gore-Tex?鈥� or 鈥淲hy are hiking poles used?鈥� and 鈥淲hy is there still snow in the mountains when there is no snow in Squamish?鈥�
I started with a completely blank page about the outdoors and took to learning about it like I used to take to learning the controls and rules for the many games I used to play.
With time I learned to rock climb and ice climb; to ski at the resort and then in the backcountry. I learned to leave most of the equipment at home and go trail-running in the mountains, confident in my abilities.
But a life being sedentary does more to a body than simply add fat to it and leave it without the knowledge required to visit wild places. It also creates issues with diet and the mobility and stability of my personal biomechanics.聽
With time I changed my diet from eating mostly processed, boxed food to one closer to a whole foods diet of fresh fruit, vegetables, some meat, little grains and dairy.聽
Diet is something I can鈥檛 simply find answers to online, however. I鈥檓 constantly changing it to see what helps my body over time and what hinders it. I always recommend simply switching things up. If your current diet is making you feel stiff and sluggish, try something new.
You can鈥檛 read your way out of issues with your biomechanics that have built up over decades of abuse from being sedentary and in a seated position. We have likely all experienced how easily we鈥檝e gotten stronger, but how difficult it can be to become more flexible.聽
It鈥檚 a subject I鈥檓 excited about and I鈥檓 always testing ways to see how I can improve my own personal mobility and stability throughout my body. To fully enjoy being outside I鈥檝e found the most benefit comes from focusing on what is inside; how my body functions, my mind works and what it is that gives me drive and motivation.聽
I鈥檓 certainly not perfect either. I will get hooked on a show on Netflix and spend a day binge watching it or I will eat a bunch of food I know I shouldn鈥檛. But I鈥檓 not overly critical of myself because of it. I simply look at where I started in the year and were I ended it. I鈥檓 satisfied as long as I鈥檝e made positive forward progress.
The more I travel, the more fortunate I feel for throwing a dart at the map in 2010 and ending up here by chance. In many ways I feel that moving to 麻豆社国产saved my life in more ways than one.聽
麻豆社国产truly is a remarkable place in the world, not only in Canada.聽
