Graham’s #FIT4FEB blog - Give Your New Year’s Resolutions a second chance!

Give Your New Year’s Resolutions a second chance!

Every year many people start the New Year making resolutions to do something about their health, mental health or fitness. Unfortunately many of those resolutions are lost during the month of January – that’s where our February challenge #FIT4FEB campaign steps in!

Our ‘Run, Ramble or Roll for Recovery’ virtual fundraiser is suitable for anyone who wants to take part. You set your own form of exercise, distance and fundraising target. Oh, and one other thing, it’s free to take part, all we ask is that you raise some much-needed funds to support our work with people recovering from addictions.

‘Feelgood’ February

One of the best things that I get out of doing regular exercise is keeping my own mental wellbeing in check. The link between physical exercise and mental wellbeing is well established – with everyone feeling the impact of the pandemic and repeated lockdowns, now seems like to perfect time for us to put a little extra into both our mental and physical wellbeing. We all know the mantra of being kind to each other, but why not use this opportunity to be kind to ourselves too?

Setting your target

So how do you go about setting a target? First, decide what you want to do, for example walking, running or cycling a mile a day for the month. Or, for a bigger challenge combine activities and aim for 100km over the month. If you are worried about setting too high a target, just set something you are comfortable with and see how it goes, you will probably surprise yourself. Perhaps you could personalise your challenge and cycle, scoot or skate your way to achieve your personal target – or a combination of all three! You can even decide to just walk the dog once a day, it’s really up to you. We are happy to hear from you if you would like some advice on setting your challenge. Just contact us, direct message us on Facebook or Tweet us using the hashtag #Fit4Feb.

My personal challenge

Some of you will know I like an endurance challenge and this time I am teaming up with Lisa, our HR Manager to achieve a target that’s been on my list for some time – to cover the distance between all of our main service bases across Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Lincoln and Lincolnshire – a distance of 131.5 miles (or 211.6 km) each! There will be a mixture of running and dog walking/jogging and each day we will post our progress on JustGiving and social media, showing our position on a virtual route, together with a few pictures of our endeavours – and our furry companions!

Along the course of this virtual route (to stay within lockdown rules we won’t actually leave our home town of West Bridgford),I’ll be highlighting the amazing work which goes on in our different locations, and how your involvement can help us to support local people to recover from addiction.

How you can help

It’s easy to set up a fundraising page on JustGiving and show your progress. Find out how to set this up here. If the challenge itself isn’t for you, then you can still really help by making a donation via our JustGiving page, or by spreading the word via social media. Let’s make this a #FeelgoodFeb for as many people as possible!