Life is so much better when you're active

Life is so much better when you’re active. Fun is to be had, memories are made, adventures are taken, no matter how big or small.

For a toddler a walk by the river watching the wildlife can seem like exploring the jungle, tackling my garden this lockdown has felt like trying to tame a jungle! But it’s all good because I’ve been outside enjoying the fresh air and hearing the birds sing. Simple things.

We haven’t been able to sail at our local club for months now and who knows when racing will return? I miss my boat, I miss hearing the water against the bow, the shouting of angry sailors as they round a mark; but it has allowed me to rediscover my love for walking, enjoying the car less country roads, cycling too has given me so much pleasure and now tennis has finally been allowed to start again I am playing three times a week.

I’ve found I have really enjoyed much of the home schooling. We are often sent active tasks to do and last week I was hopping round the garden doing bunny jumps in a Guinness World Record task. Quite a task in flip flops and without my sports bra on I can tell you!

It’s great to get others active too, and my two daughter’s love doing Joe Wicks every day. They see me going out for a run and see the endorphins it gives me and they give it a go. Result! I have taken my 83 year old mother out on very slow, socially distanced walks too and if I play her ‘Amarillo’ with Peter Kay singing she is up out of her chair having a good old jig!

Being positive, being active is the way forward and I would love to help others find the ‘active’ in themselves, young or old, small or big, it doesn’t matter. Being active is not about competing on Strava, or beating your last PB, getting bogged down with stats, it’s about finding out what works for you and being happy with that. And if that is a gentle walk, a bit of weeding in the garden or a little bop around the kitchen then that’s OK. Just get your butt moving! Even a little bit! Stay safe. Stay fit.