I moved to Kelowna in 2016 to explore new horizons. I had been to the Okanagan Valley when I was growing up and I knew this was the place I wanted to be. Prior to my move, I was living in Vancouver attending university, but realized it was too big of a city for me. I like to describe Kelowna as the perfect place for a small town girl to live a life full of opportunity. Now that I have settled into the area, I finally have found some ways to immerse myself into this town.

UrbanRec

UrbanRec is where to go to get your fix of sports as an adult living in the real world. It’s a great way to stay active, meet new people, play your favourite sports and get you out of the house! I have always played sports and found it slowed down quite a bit once I was out of the organized sports era. I definitely miss travelling to different tournaments with my friends in high school, and having practices a few times a week. I will definitely explain more in my post about staying physically active as an adult, but for the purpose of this post, I highly recommend joining a team through UrbanRec.

YMCA

I have had two experiences with YMCA that I can honestly say have played a huge role in changing my life for the better. I had the opportunity of enrolling in the YouthWorks Employment Program, which helped me switch my career path. It was a four week program that included personality assessments, resume and cover letter preparation, networking, certifications, guest speakers and more – all while getting paid to attend! The other program I went to was YMind, where you attend once a week for 7 weeks. You follow the book, The Happiness Trap, which I will discuss in my health post, to learn about mindfulness. Not only did I learn tools that would benefit me for my own anxiety, but it was incredibly helpful talking to other people going through the same thing. It’s funny how much you can find out there when you’re actually looking for it.

Kelowna Adventure Club/Hiking Addiction/November Project

These were a recent find for me. These are Facebook pages created for people who want to go on adventures and stay active in the area. I have gone to board game nights and camping trips, and I have always had great experiences. There are constant posts with fun people looking for fun things to do together! The November Project is more specified to working out early on Wednesday mornings. I honestly have yet to attend, but it sounds like a good time and there is always lots of people that show up…. at 6:30am… ready to take on a high intensity workout.