To celebrate National Fitness Day, we've invited our volunteer Isaac to share his experience on how hiking helped him improve his mental health and find ways to love and respect himself.

"I am Isaac, a 29-year-old transmasculine individual, who from a very young age has dealt with poor mental health. I have always been involved in some sort of sporting activity, from athletics, football, weightlifting, and most recently, hiking.

Although I have always enjoyed being physical, I never really made the connection between physical activity and mental health, until I discovered hiking and even that, took me a while to put both things together.

Since realising how good hiking is for my mental health, I have made a commitment to hike as much as possible, in places that could really help me open my mind and explore it without fear.

Hiking has helped me understand and accept my traumas, has given me the time and space needed to explore the possibilities that life can bring and most importantly, with hiking I have learnt to find ways to love and respect myself.”

Please support Isaac’s hiking challenge 2021/2022 fundraising for London Friend here: