Well, didn’t January feel like it was 400 days long? Dark mornings, darker afternoons and long, dark nights. It’s hard for so many of us to be motivated to think positively, to want to exercise and to want to eat healthily when it feels like there’s hardly any light.

However, the reality of it all is that when we do exercise, when we do get outdoors, and when we feed and nourish our bodies, the darker days are so much easier. That’s because we release happy hormones when we do these positive things, which in turn help us to feel lighter and brighter.

So with the nights getting lighter, the weather turning warmer, and spring but a step away, it’s time to park winter and start looking ahead.

What do you have planned? Holidays? Family get-togethers? Time out? What about adventure? And what sort of adventure?

For me? Well, I’ve never climbed Yr Wyddfa (Showdon). It’s something that I have wanted to do for a long time. My Nain (my maternal grandmother) as a teenager would climb it regularly, weekly even, as she led visiting preachers and vicars and their families up the mountain. In her final years, she would recount those climbs as easy as she took her family’s visitors around this historic area- the magnificent castle and sweeping white beaches at Harlech, to the fragile greenery of the ancient Celtic forests. Oh what adventures she must have had!

My big adventure this year will be to finally take on the climb and walk in her shoes. And I can’t wait.

But it’s not all about the big adventures. You don’t have to set your stall out to follow in a loved one’s footsteps! We don’t all have to climb mountains to experience the thrill in the sense of adventure.

What about the smaller, every day adventures? The benefits of getting outdoors are endless, but my top 5 reasons are:

• It lowers your blood pressure and reduces stress
• It improves your mood
• It improves your focus
• It helps your body get essential Vitamin D
• It improves your sleep

Make a promise to you and yours that you’ll add adventure and excitement to your outings. Less tress and more carefree moments in nature. And although we can guarantee the lighter, brighter days, one thing we can’t ever guarantee is our Welsh weather! But as my Nain once said, “There’s no such thing as bas weather, if you wear the right clothes.”