As I approach the end of my second year of training to become a counsellor I am really focussing on wellbeing within our society and what people can do in their every day life to look after their metal health. As part of this I have become a wellbeing champion at my place of work to help fight the stigma of mental health and promote general well being.
Today is the launch of the Get On Your Feet Britain campaign which encourages people to get up and get moving to increase both physical and mental health. I have taken this to work and started a team steps challenge where teams are encouraged to record their steps, the highest stepping team wins a fruit basket! Every little counts and I aim to get those who are already active to encourage their less active colleagues to contribute by taking the stairs, having a walking lunch break or arranging a team ramble.
Day 1 of the steps challenge I awake feeling groggy with a banging head ache!….Typical. Laying in bed I realised I had not yet figured out how to track my steps so I browsed the app store and chose Pacer which seemed to fit the bill and its free! I dragged myself up and opened the curtains to find the April showers were in full force, instead of heading back to the duvet I did a gentle 20 mins yoga practice to get my body moving and ease me into the day.
After brekkie I piled my bowl into the sink full of dirty dishes and went to get changed. You can tell its the end of the week as no clean jeans! Given the weather I dug out my winter waterproofs instead, the dog did not look impressed at the prospect of a wet walk but I wrapped up and we headed out.
Fresh air and a bit of rain never did anyone any harm, it certainly perked me up and even the dog had a good old run around once he was out. It wasn’t long before my head was clear and it felt good to start the day racking up some steps for the team.
In todays hectic world it doesn’t take long to find reasons not to exercise or get active. You can see from the highlighted words above the things I could have used as diversions to cut a walk short or not go out at all. So get up and get out there because chores can wait but your health shouldn’t.
Take Care xx
Tea & Happiness 