I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but ‘tough guys’ don’t cry. We’re manly men. Not only do we not have feelings, any that do creep up we spit out before we’ve had steak for breakfast whilst listening to an Andrew Tate podcast.
Oh, hang on. I hate to break it to you, but blokes get sad too. About all sorts of things, all the time. Some of us even cry whilst we watch Moana with a three year old.
It’s world mental health day, but for me every day is a mental health day. I’ve had a lot of therapy, seen a psychiatrist and had a breakdown. I’ve also experienced regular profound moments of joy, wonder and elation. My life is a rollercoaster of emotions, and something I’ve learned over the years is that we’re all working with the brain we were born with, just like our physical body. And like our bodies, our brains are malleable and trainable. I haven’t just learned how to keep a handle on my darker sides, I’ve learned how to utilise them. It’s like my brain has weather. There’s no point in denying the fact it’s raining, but these days I’ve got a pretty sturdy waterproof packed in my bag and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to enjoy the walk. Sometimes it’s even better in the rain…
We’re all different and we all have our own struggles that are unique to us. But if there’s one universal truth it’s that suffering alone (or even dealing with the small stuff alone) is rarely the right answer. Talking is powerful. Community is powerful. I once felt so alone that I rang the Samaritans helpline from a motorway service station just to have someone to talk to (not many people know that). I can’t begin to tell you how much it helped in that single moment of serious despair. As much as it might feel like it, we are never, ever alone.
Here’s to being more honest about how we’re feeling, and here’s to dispelling these awful normalised feelings that mental health issues are some sort of failure. In my experience honesty and openness are a highway to happiness. As my pal @edjackson8 put it “I think you telling me all of this is much braver than any mountain you’ve climbed”. He’s probably right.
Tagged a few ‘tough guys’ whose convos have meant a lot to me recently.
📸 @louiswaite
In the summer of 2022, @alexhonnold and @hazel_findlay made the first ascent of a remote big wall in Arctic Greenland. Supported by @aldokane , @mikeylikesrocks , @aadarmi and @heidisevestre they spent weeks travelling through the fjords, across glaciers and up other big rock objectives to better understand the area from a scientific perspective, all whilst have having a pretty major adventure.
I was hired to Direct the @natgeo / @plimsollproductions show that documented the journey. It’s a project that seems to be redefining my career, and led to me being hired to shoot a follow up series in Alaska last year. This one is out on the 4th Feb. 👌🏻
House of the Gods has launched on Prime Video. To celebrate, I’m giving a print (or two…) away of this first image of our incredible portaledge camp. I’ll also throw in a @theadventurepodcast branded @yeti tumbler.
Just watch the film, share this post, and send me a DM with the name of the ledge at the top of pitch three. The clue is that it was named by the inimitable Don Whillans.
You’ve got until 9am Monday morning to get your answer in!
Ep #3 - David Smith MBE
Two Paralympic golds. Seven spinal surgeries. Fourteen years of a rare spinal tumour that keeps coming back.
By the time we hit record, Dave wasn’t searching for a cure anymore. He was searching for contentment. He talks about what it means to be a man when the sport, the medals, the fight, even the ego that kept him alive, is no longer yours to hold.
It’s the most honest conversation about identity, ego and mortality either of us have ever been part of.
Right now Dave is fighting again, and right on cue, defying the odds. Which feels about right for him.
In this one:
- The ego that got him through seven surgeries, and how he’s learning to put it down.
- Happiness vs contentment, and why chasing the first one nearly broke him.
- Who you are when you’re no longer your “thing”
- The shift from “I” to “we”, and why service became his medicine.
- Making peace with impermanence.
- The 18,400 seconds in a day, and what to do with them.
- Choosing to become softer instead of bitter
We recorded this back in November but now seems a very poignant time to drop it.
Enjoy this conversation with a true legend of resilience and perspective. 🙏
#boyswillbeboys
The manosphere would never put a clip like this in front of your kids… That’s why we started ‘Boys Will Be Boys’
Ep.1. Out now
#BoysWillBeBoys #PositiveMasculinity #JimHamilton #RedPill #MensMentalHealth
Kicking things off with a cracker 🎙️💥
Jim Hamilton grew up without a father. Found identity through violence and sport. Became one of the most feared men in professional rugby. Now he’s raising four kids and asking himself the same question we all are; what does it actually mean to be a good man these days?
We get into fatherhood, marriage, loneliness after sport, why so many men feel lost right now, and why the man his wife and kids see at home is worth a lot more than the one with millions of views on a rugby pitch.
Boys Will Be Boys - out now wherever you get your podcasts.
🔗 in bio
#BoysWillBeBoys #PositiveMasculinity #MensMentalHealth #itsoktotalk
A year ago, Matt and I decided we couldn’t just sit back and say nothing other than to each other anymore.
The conversation around masculinity feels broken and shouting into the void isn’t going to fix it. So we started having the conversations ourselves.
With men we look up to. Men willing to talk about ego, fear, identity, all the stuff we all think about but don’t often say out loud.
We’re not claiming to have the answers.
We’re just trying to get closer to them, and bring a few more positive voices into the mix along the way.
Boys Will Be Boys.
Out now. Wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️
@boyswillbeboyspod
🔗in bio
#boyswillbeboys #modernmasculinity #mentalking #newpodcast
The last 30 days.
1. Home for 2 months
2. Second best plane view ever.
3. House on skis. Unexpected joy.
4. Dressing room date night via video call with @katiehallofficial
5. Listening to legends/pals @heidisevestre & @matthieutordeur
6. @jaycekolinski and their best pal ‘Barbecue’
7. Office view win
8. Memories of home
9. Home as I left it
10. Boaty McBoatface
Pretty good start to 2026, apart from the profound lack of wife and kids.
Adventure has long attracted big egos and bold risks, but it’s also a place where honesty, humility, and courage can flourish. Join Ed Jackson, Matt Pycroft, and Aldo Kane at @kendalmountainfestival as they dig into the classic issues this space still faces, from outdated stereotypes to barriers around openness, while also highlighting the role models who are shaping a healthier culture. One where strength and vulnerability sit side by side, and where respect matters as much as achievement.
🔥 Bold Risks, Big Egos? | Friday 21st November | 9.30am
This isn’t about tearing men down, nor romanticising the past, but about asking hard questions and celebrating the best of what men can bring to the mountains, rivers, and wild spaces. Expect a candid and thought-provoking conversation about how masculinity in adventure is evolving, and how positive change can make the outdoors better for everyone.
Grab your tickets via the link in @kendalmountainfestival bio!
Presented by Berghaus
#ShareTheAdventure | @berghausofficial
I’ve gone soft
I used to say I couldn’t remember the last time I cried
But since my accident, the big moments in my recovery hit me right in the chest
And this might be the biggest one yet
Getting back on the thing that nearly took my life
A weight has been lifted
Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul
All photos by my good friend and film director @mattpycroft
I took this photo on the side of the road in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The truck pulled over, the driver hopped out and started chatting to our guide. Old friends, I guess. I saw the camel in the back and thought ‘huh, you don’t see that everyday’. Walking round the back, I dropped to one knee and took this shot. I thought it was funny, and thought nothing more of it. But then other people thought it was funny too, and I submitted it on a whim to @natgeoyourshot . It was selected, and it went viral. Statistically it’s the most ‘successful’ or ‘viral’ photo I’ve ever taken.
This used to annoy me. I didn’t sweat or bleed for this photograph. But why do I value the effort over the end result? Getting a little older, a little more confident, a little more aware of my motivations, I care a lot less.
In case you’re interested, the camel was being chauffeured to town to get pregnant.
L’Appel du Vide
A call to arms to places that a human really shouldn’t go
There’s a French phrase. l’appel du vide, “the call of the void”. It’s often used to describe that flicker of thought when you stand on a cliff edge and imagine stepping off. It’s the whisper of risk, the pull towards the thing you should not do. But in my own life, it has meant something quieter, stranger, and more lasting. The draw toward places a human really ‘shouldn’t’ go.
Not to court danger for its own sake. Not to flirt with death. But to enter spaces so indifferent to our survival that simply existing there feels like an act of alignment, not with human ambition, but with the wider, ancient rhythms of the world.
For me, that alignment is most often found in inhospitable environments. High mountains, Arctic plateaus, wild coastlines in the teeth of a gale. Places where the weather isn’t bad, it just is. Where there is no shelter unless you bring it, no warmth unless you make it, and no guarantee of ease.
And yet, here’s the strange truth, when you have the skill, the knowledge, and the equipment, these places can be among the most comfortable, calming, and life affirming you will ever know. The paradox is that their hostility is part of the comfort.
Continued on Substack (head to the website or download the app and search The Far Reaches)
