The word unconventional means, in a literal sense, “not based on or conforming to what is generally done or believed.” To some extent, I think everyone is a bit unconventional in their own way, especially when growing up. All people in university want is to make friends, fit in and get a degree. However in my personal opinion based on my own experiences, I think fitting in is utterly and one hundred per cent impossible, for anyone.
As I sit here writing this piece on my phone, I am waiting on my friends to come down off Meall Ghaordaidh (a munro in the Ben Lawyers area of Scotland). I am currently sat warm and toasty in my friend’s car with ‘Given Up’ by Linkin Park playing and consuming all of my lunch and my hill snacks (and some of my friend’s secret snack stash too). I’m not unused to turning around on hills, it happens to everyone and certainly shouldn’t be something to avoid or be ashamed of – if a situation has the potential to become either a miserable day or a mountain rescue call out (which I have also experienced): turn around, the hill isn’t going anywhere.
While mildly frustrated and sad to not be on the hill and bagging another munro with my friends, there was no way I was going to be able to complete it, not happy anyway. With blisters, a bust knee, disgusting weather, intense nausea and dizziness and a lack of mental state that was left in August 2025, I thought turning around to a warm and dry car was probably the best option for all involved.
If I’ve learned anything from mountaineering in the last couple of years, it’s how tenacious I am, and that backing down isn’t a bad thing nine times out of ten. It took me a long time to get to a point where I could feel satisfied with a decision (any decision, I’m very indecisive). Turning around on Stob Ban twice certainly killed my spirit, but Meall Ghaordaidh today has consolidated the knowledge in my head that doing the right thing for you is okay, and that I don’t need to feel bad for just being slower, or more delicate, or not as fit – because despite all of that, I gain experience every time I go out on the hill, or to a crag, or to a climbing gym, or even on a long flat walk.
Where I am now
Looking back at where I was a year and a half ago, the progress is undeniable. I can navigate in poor conditions, I understand kit and what it does and why I need it, I can look at and understand a weather and avalanche forecast, I can take care of a group on the hill to suit all needs (luckily and just about), I can coordinate to get an injured person off a mountain, I can officially tie one knot and one hitch, I can climb 6A’s (again, just about) and can toprope belay (lead climbing is the next goal).
I suppose the unconventional aspect of my life comes into the majority of it. I think everyone is unconventional and totally normal at the same time, if everyone was the same the world would be incredibly boring – I believe that everyone is the same because they are unconventional. Many of us are anxious, depressed, happy, failing courses, passing courses, have set plans for their life, have absolutely no idea what to do; and I think that’s normal.
We are studying a theory in my Philosophy module this week: the Paradox of Hedonism. This theory applies the thought that by chasing pleasure and trying to make ourselves happy all the time 24/7, we will ultimately fail, and we will be miserable, and I mostly agree with this theory. By constantly chasing my degree, or becoming an experienced and genuinely good mountaineer/climber, I think I have been failing as I have been aiming for the end goal rather than looking at the steps to take for me to get there. The same way an athlete will strive to win a competition without focusing on the game itself, it will simply not happen if we skip the steps to get to the end goal.
So no, I don’t think mountaineering or climbing, or the way I keep my horses, or the way I organise my kitchen, or my sense of humour or even my way of thinking is “conforming to what is generally done or believed”, but I think that’s what makes me interesting, and therefore what makes everyone else interesting because they are not the same as me, and therefore makes the world interesting.
Featured image credit: Amelia Fryer
