Andy Boothman

Headspace

It’s a term that's increasingly recognised, acknowledged and understood, which is great. The term that has become synonymous with mental health and personal well-being - well done to the branding team behind Headspace – great name, brand awareness etc. Ooops, sorry my professional opinions are clouding this post already. Stop those thoughts, bad boy!

Let’s get back to task. I need to clarify what I’m going to be talking about. This is my attempt to share an insight into life inside my motorcycle helmet, what it’s like and why it’s important for me - and those close to me. Let’s start at the beginning…

Why ride?

It’s a good question. Riding my motorcycle is something that I have enjoyed since childhood. But why is that? Well for a long time I would have said it was all about escape and exploration but in recent years I’ve stared to see a much bigger and more important picture forming.

Mental health as a subject is very easy to skirt around, for years society has gone to great lengths to avoid talking about it. Why? Well I think it’s because this is a really big and often uncomfortable subject. Right now, I’ve got mixed emotions about where this post will go, I have some ideas, some notes, but I also know that in the process of writing it some curved balls will be coming my way. Here goes…

On the radar

Mindfulness and headspace are much more mainstream, open parts of conversations today, and that is a really healthy thing. Though if we’re being honest, it’s still a relatively recent development. Which makes the idea that you don’t put any work into your mental health until you hit a crisis point sound crazy, but this notion has been supported by totally outdated thinking for a long time.

Let’s be honest we wouldn’t do that with our physical health. And both physical and mental health are equally important. It’s pointless working on one and leaving the other to chance. So why do we ignore it?

It's a big challenge, possibly our biggest?

We all understand and can physically feel the benefits of working out, going the gym and all sorts of other movement and strength building exercises. We have been told that physical exercise is important for millennia, the mythical gods and goddesses of religious tales and prophecies all had the ‘god bod’ which we assumed to mean that they were physically powerful, plus, plus… plus.

It’s interesting how our brains connect images and emotions, however I’m digressing. Keep to the point! Right, mental health and practicing our skills within the space isn’t seen in the same way for some reason? That genuinely puzzles me (and many others) because it literally makes no sense, but then a lot of what we do as human beings doesn’t make sense. In many ways we are our own worst enemies. It really shouldn’t be this way but I think I know why it is.

Avoiding the hard tasks

Any kind of self-development is hard work, but working on your own mental pathways and thinking patterns is a very big undertaking. For a start there’s no rule book, so who do you look to for guidance and advice? The world has never had more experts, more practitioners complete with podcasts, books and websites. But for most people, these figures are outside the scope of affordability and equally they are probably not a good fit for what that person needs either.

Mental health development also involves exposing yourself in ways that are much more emotionally and physically painful than any external body embarrassment could ever be. This is you, raw and exposed, all your innermost thoughts shared, open to inquisition. That is MASSIVE! And for that reason it’s something that we, especially here in the UK where the ‘stiff upper lip’ cultural pressure remains ever present, leaves many of us feeling insecure about how to deal with emotions – internally and externally. We know it’s an important aspect of life, but we feel paralysed. We’re frightened, with no map to follow and insecurity about where this will take us, so it’s going to be easier to ignore it right?

Mental maps and finding the right person for you

Let’s assume for a minute that you are feeling brave enough to take on this challenge. Accepting of the fact that there are other ways of operating that might help you feel better on the inside, which always permeates outwards  this sounds like something we’d all grab given the chance, right? However, just typing that sentence feels like, whoa, slow down, WTF are you doing? You’re opening Pandora’s box!

Whilst I have some experience of mental health training, mental agility and developing new operating practices, I’m no expert. In fact I’m only a year into putting in some serious, dedicated time to this stuff myself. Yes, it took me 40 years to accept that I needed to work on me.

I, like many others, found myself asking why haven’t you done this earlier? And I arrived at an answer that I feel will resonate with many people. It’s about trust! You have to be sure that those you let in are going to help you in positive ways. This is hard, as we seldom have the skills to know where the problem is, let alone the awareness to do something about it. Subsequently there’s a lot of unpicking to be done.

That introspection requires a huge amount of trust. I feel that this is still the biggest barrier to entry for most people – the realisation that your own thinking might not be helpful. Another WTF moment for sure. But ask yourself, are there other ways of doing things that could make you feel better?

This is genuinely game changing stuff when you do it. But it takes a lot of courage and unfortunately, a certain amount of discomfort and pain before most people, myself included, will stop and start the think about what we should be doing to nurture our own mental health.

OMG, I said at the start that this wasn’t going to be easy, but I hadn’t realised it would be this hard to express mental health in a way that explains a little of the nuance and personal complexity that it presents for each of us. I hope that my intro helps you and others (please share it) who are wondering if they should get more involved in their mental health, I hope it does. Right, onwards…

The gender divide

Guys we are…I was going to be polite and say bad at this stuff, but the reality is that we are shit at it. Our female counterparts are much more at ease with discussing all aspects of health and well-being, not to mention many other aspects of life too. And women also have amazing skills, skills of every kind, I have learnt a great deal from the women in my life and I thank and support them all.

I’m sure that there are lots of reasons for most men being inept within the mental health space. I now understand that a lot of our thinking is generational, passed down through families.

Our parents are our biggest role models, but what happens when they are at work, bringing in the money to keep a roof over our heads? We go searching for other role models. Where do we look? Anywhere and everywhere. Take your pick, whatever interests you. The chances are there will be people who are seen as pioneers, innovators, rule brakers, winners and losers within every area of life.

The people that we put on these ‘pedestals’ often never asked to be put there. These role models are just ordinary people, with their own strengths and weaknesses. People who can often have little, if any idea of what their actions will mean to those of us who aspire to be more like them.

My role models came from three places - movies, music and motorsport, especially motorcycling which was regularly on the BBC in my teens. Sometimes you got all three together, I’m thinking about the Terminator films here - super aggressive, male stereotyping if ever there was some, but it was a different time. Another aspect of many movies is the sense of adventure, pushing the limits of what was possible. Top Gun epitomised that for me and still does TBH, though I’ll admit there are some rather dodgy cultural and gender references that certainly won’t have helped any of us (both men and women). I could recount a lot of influences and role models from my childhood, including Kick Start and yes, I still love trails bikes!

There’s a good reason for this nostalgia, childhood is the time when we absorb the information that will become the operating system for the rest of our lives. How we see, interact, react and share our lives with others. Motorcycles were with me from early on and remain an important part of life for me, they are integral to my identity and sense of self. I’ve not shared lots about what I like about bikes and why I ride (I’ve found it hard to be open about it, feeling a bit embarrassed I guess, self-conscious but I’m starting to improve, and sharing this now, which feels positive). This blog is my first step in rectifying my overthinking, but before I jump into why the motorcycle headspace works for me there are a couple more things that I need to address.

Motorcycle stereotypes

Stereotypes are not helpful, we’ve already touched on this, and for many of the reasons that I’ve already explained they are not very helpful, I’d like to look at 3 prominent ones about motorcycling. 

We’ll start at the start, I cannot put my finger on where my relationship with motorcycling started. I think it was a field bike, a Honda Cub, but I couldn’t be totally sure if the interest was there before that. Certainly there was, and remains, the perception that motorcycling is a rebellious, non-conformist method of transport. I’ll admit that I like to do things differently, so I can see how this element appealed.

However, the reality is quite different from the narrative of the movies. For a start there is no escape from the decisions that you make whilst riding. Get things wrong and you’ll experience a lot of physical pain, possibly life changing or worse. This is something that I believe makes your judgements more focused when on two wheels rather than in four, there is no metal box full of air-bags to save your ass. And I honestly see that as a good thing, the no safety net bit.

Next it’s about ambition and what I saw as ‘cool’. Growing up the coolest characters I knew rode bikes. Much of this was coming from the movies, but many of my friends also rode. A motorcycle was the cheapest form of transport, making it affordable to many people. Hand on heart, the coolest thing about riding a motorcycle is the temperatures you’ll experience.

There’s no denying that the ‘cool’ factor is present, just not coming from the place that you might have envisaged (I didn’t either). Looking back to the movies, they were always on a set in some sun-baked part of the world with perfect dry, clean and often unused roads, not your local high street on a cold and wet Wednesday evening in September! Motorcycling is cold whatever the weather, in the UK you’ll be hovering around a few degrees centigrade most of the time due to wind chill.

Last of stereotypes (I’m going to cover here), motorcycles are the vehicle of exploration. This is one stereotype that I have to agree with, and something that could be both positive and useful. In my experience there is nothing that comes close to the in your face, up your nose and through your ears experience that riding a bike brings. You feel every aspect of the journey, and the agility of a motorcycle allows you the freedom to try new things, explore and take the less obvious path, which I love.

Inside the helmet

We’ve made it, I felt that it was important to fill in some of the details that sit around this activity before jumping into what it’s like in the helmet. It’s the back story I guess to why this means so much to me.

In recent weeks I’ve been thinking about how best to explain the ‘in-helmet’ experience that is motorcycling. Of course it will be different for everyone, for me this is the realisation of headspace - a physical place that I can go into which connects me with myself and nature.

I think it’s best described as a magic switch, I guess there’s an element of Mr Ben in here (more nostalgia), as I put on the helmet and leave the world behind. Not that my world, or my vision of the world is bad, there’s no rejection here or anything like that. Getting inside the helmet is about something different, stepping into a space of heightened reality. A place where I’m totally dialled into my surroundings and the experience. I deliberately choose to have no distractions, partly for the simplicity of it, but also because I think it’s safest way. I’m 100% present and on a motorcycle that’s an important safety factor.

I feel the road through the bike, through my hands, feet, legs and body, every rise and fall of the asphalt as I navigate my path - it’s engaging every sense. Every motorcycle journey is special, a place where I can hear the nature that I pass through – the wind and animals, smell the seasons…the trees, flora and forna, feel the elements on my skin through my clothes. I am totally removed from everything and yet also totally immersed in everything. Leaving one world behind and jumping headlong into another.

All thoughts of work, phones, messages and conversations are removed. When I put my helmet on, it’s about discovery and adventure. This is my time, I’m not trying to be somewhere at a specific time, see someone or something. I’m open to the idea of following a new path and seeing where that path (road) takes me.

This is my ‘in-helmet’ experience, the conduit is my bike, the vehicle that brings me this heightened sense of movement and agility, using my mind and body to turn the bike, control it over rough sections of road, react to hazards and escape into nature. It’s an all engaging feast for the senses and a reconnection to the world around me on an intimate level. I adore this level of intimacy, this is ‘my time’ travelling where I like through nature.

Some may see it as selfish and I can see that as well. But it’s important to put yourself first sometimes. You cannot help others if you’re broken. What might appear selfish can actually be the greatest type of self-care imaginable. It’s all about perspective and being open to other peoples ideas and thinking.

I stopped riding for about a decade, due to time pressures – work mainly, which I now recognise was not helpful, though I couldn’t see that at the time. When a close friend passed his test and brought his bike around to show me, I instantly recognised what I’d been missing and quickly took action to remedy it.

I took my first tentative steps back into the world of two wheels and the emotions came rushing back. Having lost this part of me, I realised just how much I had missed it and looking back now I recognise that motorcycling has been a very important part of my mental health. It refills my battery and cleanses me, purges me from the world around me, giving my body the opportunity to switch off from all of the usual requests I put upon it everyday.

I guess you could say there is a kind of zen to it. It’s also really, really, simple and all the more affective for that I believe. So that’s me, my headspace and an insight into what I’m thinking inside my helmet. Whether you’re into bikes or not, I wonder how much of this resonates with you? Maybe you’re already ‘there’, having found your mechanism and confident in your abilities to really understand what you need, embracing the mental as much as physical work-outs? Maybe like me you haven’t fully tuned your personal compass into the things that you really need to be your best self? I’m not suggesting motorcycling is the silver bullet by any means, it’s one of several things that fulfil me. Things that I can’t imagine not doing.

In a couple of weeks I’ll be ‘riding dapper’ in the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, an event which I love supporting. It’s all about mental health and physical health – prostate cancer. Going back to what I said earlier, men are still pretty shit at talking about this stuff and this event does wonders to address that on so many levels.

The scale and impact of the DGR is amazing, not least because this event happens simultaneously around the world, something that I find amazing, especially in today’s super noisy and divided world. This event brings people together from every walk of life, in every country. In my eyes that’s quite an achievement. Every rider is there to support another person, sometimes the connection is deeply personal, others it’s simply an understanding of the importance of mental health and well-being for others and society in general.

Wherever you are on Sunday 18^th May there will be a ride near you, have a look on the DGR website, every country lists all the rides, so finding something close to you is pretty easy. I invite you to come and see for yourself what DGR is all about, meet the people and join a global community tackling some of the biggest issues in life, and doing it with fun and a real sense of style, which I love. As always, thanks for reading.

I'm Riding for Men's Health in The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride

On Sunday the 18th of May 2025, I'm riding in The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride with men and women from around the world to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer and men's mental health on behalf of Movember.

Did you know?
Men die on average 6 years earlier than women and for largely preventable reasons.

The number of men that are suffering is growing, and we collectively need to do something about that. So, before I press my tweed and polish my boots, I'm asking you to join me in raising funds and awareness for these causes by donating what you can for this meaningful cause, helping the men we love live happier and healthier lives.