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An Interview With Bex Band The Ordinary Adventurer



This week we are pleased to interview Bex Band

Tell us a bit about your background, the individuals and key experiences that inspired you during your life.

I grew up in Basingstoke and had a pretty uneventful childhood. I attended a comprehensive school which I didn’t enjoy very much as I struggled to do well in classes because I’m dyslexic and struggled to make friends as I’m different. After a gap year spent exploring East and South Africa on my own aged 18, I returned to the UK to study film at University, before moving to London.

After several years living in London and realising the 9-5 lifestyle wasn’t for me, I quit my job as a teacher and packed in my life to go on an adventure. My family aren’t outdoorsy at all so it was only in my adult life that I started to discover my love of the outdoors, but I always had this dream inside me to go and do adventurous things. The first thing I did was hike 1000km the length of Israel and I haven’t stopped adventuring since.

There were no real stand-out influencers in my life that led me on the path to adventure mostly, I think, because the outdoor industry really lacks female role models. Instead my inspiration came from books and films of characters being bold and brave.

Is there an ah ha moment that inspired you to change direction and lead the life you are currently doing and can you share it with us?

There was and I remember it very clearly. For years I had been toying with the idea of quitting my job and going travelling but had always found excuses why not to go. Instead I would change jobs and find a new career in the hope that it what solve the dissatisfaction I had in my life.

On a dreary January day in 2016 though I decided there and then that I had had enough. Although there were times when I was deeply unhappy - struggling financially, hating my job and even suffering from depression - this was not one of them. In fact, this was one of the happier periods of my adult life. I was in an ok job that I didn’t absolutely loath. I had a wonderful husband and good friends. Plenty of money to live a comfortable life and still enjoy exciting holidays. There was nothing in my life that I could pin point as being wrong or bad except inside it just didn’t feel right.

When I imagined the child me looking into the future and seeing what my life was I would have been disappointed. I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a child but I knew I was going to do something exciting and different.

I’d found myself on a path of comfort that was not meant for me and the further I stayed on it, the harder it would become to leave. So I made a snap decision to make a change. Deciding and committing was the hardest part, but once it was made, everything kind of feel into place.

What gives you a buzz?

Interacting with wildlife in the ocean makes me the happiest person on earth which is why I love diving and freediving so much. These are rare and special moments for me though. Day to day I get a real buzz from helping and inspiring others. It’s what gets me out of bed in the mornings!

Tell us a bit about Love Her Wild and why you set up this online community.

Love Her Wild was set up to help women adventure more. The adventure world is so daunting, exclusive and male dominated that I really felt there was a need to have a space just for women. We have a really supportive private Facebook community (link given later) and organise really cool expeditions and adventures to get members meeting like-minded women while challenging themselves.

What is it about the outdoors and travel that inspires you?

Every time I go on an adventure or travel somewhere different, I learn something new about myself and world. It’s great to keep growing as a person and only by stretching yourself will you discover your real potential.

How do you see Love Her Wild developing over time?

Love Her Wild is only 1 year old and in that time it has grown faster than I could have ever imagined! We’ve got a full website, organised a number of successful expeditions for women, run a mentor program and have almost 2,500 members.

My hope in the future is to provide a bigger variety of expeditions and events to help women meet others or gain the confidence they need to go out on their own. Next year we are doing our first festival which we want to become an annual event.

It’s such an exciting time and I can’t wait to see how the community grows and where Love Her Wild goes from here.

What’s on the horizon for The Ordinary Adventurer?

It’s always a hard balancing act for me juggling Love Her Wild and also my own blog the Ordinary Adventurer. I’m looking forward though to redirecting my focus a bit in the next couple of months and doing more blogging. It’s been such a busy summer of talks and events that I’ve barely had any time to write which I miss.

It’s also time for me to do another big expedition just me and my husband (who I’ve barely seen recently!). We’re in the very early stages of organising something quite big and exciting for 2018 but we’re not quite ready to reveal what it is yet. All will be revealed on my Facebook page soon!

How best can our community of busy bees connect with you?

Firstly, for all the women reading this, check out our Love Her Wild website (www.LoveHerWild.com) and come join our private

To follow me and all my adventures, check out my website, www.theOrdinaryAdventurer.com

You can also follow me on:

Bex thank you for telling us your story. We seek to share inciteful stories we want to inspire.

Continue your adventures stay safe and keep in touch and keep buzzing!

Selchouk Sami

Founder

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