Paula Reid combines business intelligence with adventure experience and a Masters in Positive Psychology to help leaders and organisations cope, survive and thrive in today’s uncertain and challenging times.
In July 2018 she graduated with an MSc Distinction in Positive Psychology and her dissertation researched the benefits of Adventuring.
Paula has now launched Adventure Psychology: Going Knowingly into the Unknown™ as a new discipline. Most people will be familiar with Sports Psychology which is about peak performance in fixed conditions. In comparison, Adventure Psychology is more relevant to today’s world, focusing on adaptation and enduring performance in challenging and uncertain conditions.
Paula Reid – Adventurer
Paula has been to 61 countries and achieved 118* of her ‘things to do before she dies’ including: skiing to the South Pole; sailing around-the-world; paddling the Mekong; cycling across 9 countries; written 4 books; fire walking; Hadrian’s Wall; the London Marathon; walking from coast-to-coast; trekking in West Papua; bog-snorkelling; great white shark diving… and many more!
* so far!
From skiing to the South Pole…
Paula Reid is only the 3rd British and 14th International Woman to Ski Full Distance to the South Pole (Messner route). This is a challenging 1000km trek through remote, freezing terrain from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf on the edge of the frozen Antarctic continent at 82⁰20 South to the Geographic South Pole at 90⁰ South. The trip meant pulling an 80kg pulk in one of the most inhospitable environments of the world; uphill all the way, climbing 11,000 feet (3350 m) with temperatures below –40°C plus severe wind chill and storms.
…to paddling the world’s greatest rivers…
In a ground-breaking expedition in 2001, Paula paddled 600 miles down the Mekong River in a dugout canoe which she bought off a tribal chief in rural Cambodia. She hit rocks and rapids, capsized, cooked all her meals on a fire and got arrested at gunpoint! She has also paddled down the San Juan River in Nicaragua and kayaked the Thames from source to sea.
…and sailing the wrong way round the world.
As a core crew member of the Global Challenge World’s Toughest Yacht Race, Paula raced 35,000 miles the ‘wrong way’ around the world, competing against 11 other 72’ yachts. The race lasted for ten months, including 187 days at sea; 75 of which were spent in the notoriously freezing and dangerous Southern Ocean. Paula, with two months’ notice and no sailing experience, was immediately in at the deep end with a Force 8 gale and a man overboard within ten hours of the race starting…
Paula Reid
- Adventurer
- Adventure Psychologist
- Achieved 118 things on Live Life to the Full List
- Core crew in Global Challenge RTW yacht race
- 3rd British female to ski full distance 1000km to the South Pole – view video
- Currently cycling across 50 countries in ’50 Good Turns’
- On the experience ‘Rich List’ 2018
- B.Ed (Hons)
- M.Sc in Positive Psychology
- Speaker, Coach
- Author of four books
- TEDx talk – Stretch Zone – view video