Derbyshire woman conquers personal mountains on 3 Peaks charity challenge for mental health charity CALM

Diane Evans, 59, has been running her own menopausal health coaching business for six years – helping individuals, groups and employers to navigate some of life’s most challenging natural changes – but all the while she has been contending with the mental health effects that can accompany hormonal disruption.

So over the past couple of years, she has been trying to overcome restrictive feelings of anxiety and accomplish things she would never have imagined possible, like completing the famous Three Peaks challenge a few weeks ago.

She said: “It was initially just a personal thing to help my mental health, but I also wanted to empower and encourage other women, and show they can do anything and everything if they commit to it.

“It’s a time of life when you feel you want to achieve things. Maybe you’ve looked after a family and the kids are off doing their own thing and you’ve suddenly got free time to fill. On the other hand, it can be a time when you’re juggling so much with work and family that you can get overwhelmed, and forget what you need until you burn out.”

She added: “Some women might start seeing changes in their late 30s. I could feel it over several years, but I internalised it all and thought I was seriously ill when actually I was menopausal. It wasn’t on my radar at the time but now I’m a lot more savvy about things like nutrition, mindfulness and exercise, and I want to share the support and knowledge which wasn’t there for me when I went through it. I want to help people take back control.

“A couple of years ago I took up open water swimming, last year I walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall. It was my first ever hiking challenge and that gave me a taste for it so I thought, ‘What’s next?’ I’d never climbed mountain before. I was maybe a bit naïve, I didn’t quite realise what it was all about.”

It was a steep learning curve as Diane found herself scrambling up the side of a peak near Glencoe on a warm-up climb the day before tackling Ben Nevis.

She said: “I hike a bit locally up and down the hills around Matlock, but nothing could have prepared me for the difference. With hills, it’s just a short snap to the top. Mountains just keep going and going.

“Scafell Pike in the Lake District was dreadful. It was so hard and the conditions were poor so we couldn’t see much. I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, and I was really feeling it that day but I just had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and keep going. Compared with the first two, Snowdon was a doddle.”

She added: “Doing it over six days allowed me to appreciate and experience the beauty of nature, and to bond with a team of ten strangers. We were lucky to get 360-degree visibility on Ben Nevis, and the views were stunning. I’ve no idea how people do it in 24 hours.

“The best part was that I could see a positive shift in my mental wellbeing – you really need that endurance and decisiveness to succeed. It was a massive journey emotionally and physically, which took a couple of weeks to sink in afterwards, but it has really helped me to climb out of where I was, manage where I’m at and find a better way.

“There’s a quote which I think comes from Sir Edmund Hillary: ‘It’s not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves.’ It’s a powerful message that sums it all up for me. I’m not saying everyone has to climb a mountain, but you do need to prioritise self-care.”

Along the way, Diane also collected sponsorship of more than £600 for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

She said: “It’s a charity that is predominantly associated with addressing male suicide but I felt like something had stolen my joy, and maybe someone else will need help to find theirs. Maybe that money will pay for someone to be on the other end of the phoneline when you really need them.

She also blogged about the experience, and shared the journey on social media, and the impact was obvious on her followers.

Diane said: “I was really open about why I was doing it and getting messages back from people saying: ‘You could be talking about me.’ It had a really positive effect, I think.

“I wanted to encourage those conversations about mental health. It happens to the best of us, and so many people try to hide it away.”

As she looks towards her 60th birthday in 2023, Diane has already turned her thoughts to her next challenge, which she says will have to be extra special.

She said: “I’m definitely going to jump out of a plane somewhere, and I’m also thinking about doing the coast-to-coast walk. That would be really tough, but walking’s in my blood now.”

There are also plans to further develop her business, Menopause It Matters: “I had to find out for myself how to manage it but I would love to see doctors’ surgeries offering community workshops as a more holistic approach for those women who need something else alongside or instead of hormone replacement therapy.”

For more information on Diane’s work, go to www.menopauseitmatters.com.

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