Recovery is like Pushups
In May I participated in the worldwide Push-Up Challenge supporting Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation.
This challenge was great for me, and it reminded me of many lessons I’ve learned along my own journey with mental health and addiction.
- Keep going no matter what
- Set realistic goals
- At the same time, aim higher than you think you can achieve
- Commit yourself
- Don’t start out saying you can’t
- Break it down into do-able chunks
- Community helps
- Accountability helps
- Rewards help
- A big why helps
- “No matter what” really helps
- Modify it to make it work for me
- Do a bit each day
- Some days will be harder than others
- Everybody goes at their own pace
- Ignore those who bring out negativity
- Do a lot of learning when you’re a beginner
- Progress can sneak up on you
- Fixing one area helps another area
- Visual changes happen but the internal changes are bigger
- Each day is a new day, and the accumulation of days matters too
- Being proud of myself feels amazing
Over 3000 pushups! Yes I did lots on the wall, incline, or knees, and it was fantastic. At the end of the month I had the great satisfaction of seeing how my physical strength had improved and observable mental improvements as well. Sadly that huge total number represents the number of Australians lost to suicide in 2018, underlining the need for programs like Headspace.
Join me next year! https://www.thepushupchallenge.com.au/