Before I’m a presenter, I’m most and foremost a scientist. It has its huge perks. You are like a tiny cog in this huge wheel which is the foundation of all that we know about wildlife.
But it does have its limits. I didn’t get the best grades in biology but I was so passionate about telling people about how our environment works and wanted to also get them excited about it. Towards the end of secondary school, I started to go out and make the worst videos on my video camera about anything I could find in my local environment. It could be about seals on the coast line, small invertebrates, or seasonal changes, anything that I could post on my YouTube channel. And then I got spotted by CBBC, and it has continued from then.
It’s important that I prepare myself physically before going out on expeditions, whist also prioritising my mental health.
Whether its diving, freediving, snorkeling, wild swimming, or trail running. I’m more than happy to exercise through wind and torrential rain. It gives me a real sense of freedom and I learn about how to adapt to change. Running is a big one for me though, I will run 4-5 times a week and try to get outdoors every single day as I’m not an indoors person. My line of work requires me to be quite fit. I do a lot of stunts, strength conditioning, and often strap myself onto a tree and do a lot of upper body and lower body workouts. But it’s also about knowing your body and understanding where you are physically. It may be that I’m not the fittest or it could be my time of the month, so depending on whether I feel good and strong, I will lower or increase the amount of training I’m doing. It’s about consistency, regular exercise, and building a better relationship with our bodies.
There’s this whole idea that adventurous women don’t exist, they do.
So many of us are thriving, being curious, and not afraid to upskill and learn new things. But it’s important that we remember to take physical breaks, it’s when we are more beneficial to ourselves and others.
But I can’t travel around the world and not work on reducing my carbon footprint.
I starting working with Volvo about a year and a half ago and switched into an electric Volvo, the XC40 Recharge, which enables me to travel more consciously to remote areas, it was a big ache of mine. Now I can throw all my kit in the back of the car, get into nature to recharge, in a more conscious and sustainable way.
Lizzie Daly was talking to Yolanthe Fawehinmi
