Liz Forshaw wrote the following piece for her blog – The Lizard. Liz has kindly agreed to have her words shared on Unsponsored.

I have been labelling myself as a kayaker ‘paddler’ ‘boater’ since University, an easy set of tags that allow you to be more than just yourself, giving you access into a whole new family, club, whatever you want to call it. Anyone who is a kayaker will understand, this is one of the best groups to be in – full of loyal, passionate, mentally and physically strong people, the sort you want to have with you in a crisis, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s a pretty little place, so you feel like one of the special ones. Your ‘other’ friends marvel at tales of raging whitewater, far flung adventures around the world and of course, the best parties you have ever been to. But what happens when you fall out of love with it or physically can’t do it anymore?…

It can happen for many reasons, for me it was a combination of things. Working in the industry where you spend your spare time has certain drawbacks, the feeling of constantly being at work, needing to keep a professional face at a party, or not appear weak on a river takes away from having fun after a while. Continue reading