“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”

I will be walking from the Shire to Mordor (910 mi / 1,462 km) to raise money for the mental health charities, Quarriers and Health in Mind!

As a primary teacher, I have seen firsthand the importance of helping young people to understand their mental health and learn how to look after themselves, whatever they might be dealing with. Quarriers do an excellent job of working 1-to-1 and with small groups of pupils to support them in their mental wellbeing.

I have also had problems with my own mental health in the past but I’ve never been especially great at reaching out and asking for help - although I feel much more open and able to discuss my situation these days, I do wish that I’d reached that point a lot sooner; I’m hoping that raising some money (and awareness) for Health in Mind will also help to extend their reach to those that might need it but are unsure of where to turn.

One of my personal favourite activities to do for my mental health is walking, although I occasionally find myself falling out of the habit when I am feeling particularly busy or stressed at work, or once the cold winter nights creep in and my motivation dwindles - I’m hoping that having this target to work towards will keep me going to complete the challenge.

Another constant of my life is ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (both book and film) - I adore these stories and I’ve often found myself falling back on them as a source of comfort over the years, perhaps without ever fully realising that they were also a form of positive mental health strategy!

So what better way to raise some money than combining both of the above? I will be completing the ‘Lord of the Rings’-themed “Conqueror Challenge”, which involves me logging and tracking activities to work towards completing various distance milestones. The overall challenge is made up of 8 smaller challenges, each of which have the added bonus of earning a new tree to be planted for each 20% of a challenge I complete - so when all is said and done, there will be another 40 trees in the world, as well as any money we can raise for the mental health charities.

Having started the challenge on 05/10/24, I have decided to set myself an end target date of 08/04/25 - this will give me 6 months and 3 days, the same length of time it takes Frodo and Sam to travel from the Shire to Mount Doom in the books. I may live to regret this timescale, but we will see!

I would be very grateful for any support that people are able to give for this challenge - ideally I would like to raise a roughly equal amount between the two charities, if anyone who doesn’t have a specific preference is able to donate towards keeping a balance, but at the end of the day any amount we can raise for either will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Sean(wise)