‘I was lonely, bored, frustrated’

But the challenge changed a tough year into a transformational one for 47-year-old Sharon Orsborn from Berkshire.

I’VE KNOWN FOR a while now my life wasn’t how I needed it to be. I was lonely, bored, frustrated, unhappy in my job and life. Stuck in what seemed a never-ending cycle of blah-ness, I kept people at a distance because I don’t trust them with my insecurities. The challenge has changed all that. First it made me realise I’m capable of planning a walk somewhere new on my own, and I will be okay meeting a group of people I don’t know and I can just enjoy their company, our surroundings and general conversation. I feel like I’ve being willing to open the door a little more each time – to just be me, and to show people who I truly am. I only started in March, and I’m still a work in progress but I feel the possibility of change on my horizon at last. The challenge stopped me sitting in the house the whole time I’ve been furloughed, and it made me want to meet people and attempt to make friends I can have adventures with in the future. A group of Hampshire 1000-milers took me under their wing (even though I’m from Berkshire) and I’ve been to lots of places I probably would never have thought to go to. I actually like people – who knew? If I could talk to myself a year ago I’d say “Do it earlier! Don’t wait until you have to spend months home alone before realising that you do need people in your life – find your tribe, you never will look back.”