Who am I?

I could tell you all about my career path, how others see me, or my hobbies and interests, but these are simply the different contexts you can find ‘me’ and not who I am. So, if you would let me, I would like to give a brief ‘typical’ response, before diving in a bit deeper to the philosophical answer behind it.

My name is Archie. I am currently a student paramedic, an aspiring expedition medic and outdoor enthusiast based in Scotland. Someone who loves exciting and energetic adventures, but also slower moments where I reflect back on my life so far. This page is an attempt share the journey I am taking towards these goals, where I combine these elements of my life with the others to try and take a stab at answering some of the questions that arise, and maybe find out a little more about who I am along the way.

In truth though, I think it is impossibly hard to convey who a being is through professions, hobbies or skills, rather it is something you must experience. I will change through time, and what I do with my days will change as that happens, and yet the core fibre which threads all of ‘me’ together will remain the same. ‘The Ridge Beyond’ is, among many things, an attempt at further discovering this fibre with you.

You are currently reading a page that is meant to tell you who I am, but in truth the answer to that question is not explicitly laid out anywhere, but rather spread out and weaved into every part of this website and other pages linked to it.

This project is a collection of every different ‘context’ you may find me in and a small expansion upon them. In each of these contexts those around me could follow along and gain an understanding of who I am, except they would be missing two key aspects; the story going on inside my head, and what I am like when no one else is around. I hope to use this project as an attempt to bring all of that together into one organised place.

If you would like you can simply read all that I do, produce and share with you and ignore the purpose behind it all, and if you did I am sure you would nonetheless start to discover who I am. Though, as I thought through what to write here, and what I should include in The Ridge Beyond, I discovered a something which ties everything together, and therefore is one of the closest things so far I found to the truth of who I am.

I believe that the ‘fibre’ of my being is actually split into two parts. As a Christian, I have always understood the first- that I have a given identity and value found in being someone made in the image of God. I am only now starting to uncover the second however. That throughout this life I have the purpose of growing in my skills and experiences to help and serve others.

It is the process of learning how to develop what talents I already have to achieve this purpose, that is the continually changing part of who I am, slowly moving towards the constant of who I was made to be.

I hope I will eventually look back on my life, and not define it by the amazing adventures you will read about here, or the title I might gather in my career, but rather that the journey through those allow me to grow into some willing and able to help those around me.

So, that is a drawn out and terribly over-complex answer to who I am. I appreciate it was a longer read than most ‘About Me’ pages, but I encourage you to stick around and return now and again to slowly learn the fuller answer along with me.

If you are interested in how exactly I plan to do that, and what exactly I plan to share on this page, please click on over the ‘What will you find here?’ page, or if you would like to understand a little more about why I have decided to start this project, take a look at the ‘What is The Ridge Beyond?’ page, in the meantime- thanks for dropping by!