Lately, I have to admit, I have been struggling with my mental health. This year has been one of the biggest struggles that I have had to face so far, as I am sure the majority of you reading this could say the same! I think a lot of the concerns come from not knowing where we stand, not knowing where we are heading and not having a clue as to what is happening next!
Back in March, when the UK seen the start of the first lockdown, many people were under the impression that the virus would disappear as quickly as it seemed to appear. People were told to prepare for a three – four week long lockdown, yet this continued way beyond that time scale.
Businesses went under, jobs were lost, lives were lost, or changed forever… the world seems to have crumbled from beneath our feet and it seems we are heading towards a ‘new normal’.
All of these things can have a huge impact on a persons mental health.
Around 5 weeks ago, we started going to the gym together as a household. I have read so many articles about how physical workouts can improve mental health as well as physical health and Jake would tell me all of the time that I should exercise more to try and help my self-esteem as well as my mental state. Although I did believe that these things were true, finding the motivation and the energy to go to the gym and exercise in the first place, was very difficult for me.
However, this time around, I have felt different. I have started to look forward to my gym sessions and classes! So much so, that I have been working out 3-4 times per week for approximately an hour and fifteen minutes per session. I would do ab sessions, arms, legs and some cardio as well as doing some fitness classes such as ‘burn it’, ‘legs, bums and tums’ and ‘pump it’!
So far I have lost a little over 3kg. I do not feel half as bloated as I used to and I feel a little bit more confident in myself.
I do need to start being a little bit more strict in regards to my diet again, although I am not doing bad with that at the moment!
When we heard that our usual gym was closing as a result of the new, updated Covid-19 rules, I was devastated. I was concerned that my mental health would plummet right back down to where it was two months ago. I didn’t want to lose the hard work that I had put in so far, I didn’t want to start completely hating myself again, I wanted to keep on moving forward, and stop looking into the past.
We ended up travelling to another gym (within our area), although it was the same company, it was very different to our home gym. But I am just grateful that I can still get my exercise sessions in!
Then I seen a fundraising challenge being advertised on Facebook for an amazing cause. The challenge was to complete 2000 burpees throughout November… And you bet your ass I signed right up!
I hate burpees, I have always hated burpees since my dancer days! Yet, I wanted to sign up for this, I wanted to challenge myself, while at the same time raising money for an incredible, Bone Cancer Charity.
My plan is to do 50-60 burpees per day, splitting them into sets of 10 throughout the day to make it a little easier! I am hoping to raise at least £150 for the charity, if I manage to raise more than that, I will be overjoyed!
If you would like to help me to reach my goal, or if you would like to follow my progress with the challenge, you can find my fundraising page over on facebook by clicking here!
I have to say that I am so proud of how far I have come in such a short amount of time and I am hoping to continue on this journey, I am excited to see how much I can change; not only physically but mentally also.
I want to thank everyone for believing in me and supporting me, it has really made a difference!
