Laura never considered a life in the great outdoors until a crossroads in her mid twenties changed everything. “I had a little bit of a mid twenties life crisis I suppose” Laura explains, as I Skype her from the road in Denmark. “I realised that everyone was getting mortgages and I thought that’s what I should be doing to.”

Stuck in an office job that stifled her, she began looking for other ways to make money that could be more flexible and creative with her work schedule, and began to study to be a personal trainer. Although she didn’t know it then, this was the first step away from her old life, and towards the life of an adventurer. “It all sort of spiralled from there” she says, “I learned a lot more about sport science and got absolutely fascinated with what the human body can do.”

“I suddenly realised that I’d tapped into something that I absolutely love”

This new interest quickly led Laura towards testing her own limits and the boundaries of what she could accomplish through physical strength in the outdoors, starting with shorter endurance challenges and building to crazier and more badass adventures. “The challenges just started getting bigger and bigger” she says, “I suddenly realised that I’d tapped into something that I absolutely love.”

This is just the latest in a series of amazing adventures dreamt up by Laura. Back in 2015, she decided to embark on a mission to kayak the entire length of the Volga River in Russia, from source to sea, 2,300km of solo and self-sufficient paddling.

This adventure is Laura’s most notable adventure, but not for the reasons she ever expected. “Unexpectedly, that trip went completely viral in Russian media” she explains. “I was on all of these news sites. I became an accidental Russian celebrity.”

Public support and interest can motivate and add to the experience of attempting a great challenge, but Laura soon started to experience the darker side of the instant fame she had found in Russia. “I had a little tracker map that was on a delay and would switch off when I was camping” she says, “but there was one incident where people tracked me down to my campsite. It was not very nice, but thankfully I was camped with a father and son that I had met earlier that day.”

“At that point, I came off the river and had a look at what was going on and realised the extent of the publicity. I was getting thousands of messages, some of them quite sinister, it was just a whole circus.”

While Laura was forced to accept the safety issues caused by her notoriety in Russia and end her expedition early, the experience has only seemed to push her forward to take on more exciting and risky adventures. From cycling 2600 km through Ireland, to kayaking 236 miles home for Christmas and completing a triathlon round all three of the Channel Islands, it seems like there’s nothing that Laura won’t put her had to and have a go at.

Laura is the perfect example of what Better Takes Action really means and why it matters. She didn’t set out to live a life of endurance and adventure, she simply knew that she wasn’t content with what she was doing and went to find something better. It’s an approach to life that every single one of us can learn from.

“We’re just not designed to be miserable, Monday to Friday, nine to five, that’s a long time to spend hating your life” Laura says, before we put down the phone so she can set back off on her bike. “Life is too short to live for Friday, it’s a cliché but I really do think that it’s true. It’s just important to pour your energy into something you love.”