World Mental Health Day 2021: the unlikely case of finding my best self during a global pandemic
With temperatures dropping and daylight hours becoming shorter you could be easily forgiven for wanting to spend more time indoors. But it’s at moments like this with Autumn and Winter approaching that we need to find every opportunity to do the exact opposite.
The challenges of the last 18 months have been many and varied. While we all have a shared, collective experience of the pandemic, each one of our individual stories has a unique narrative.
18 months into the pandemic, we appear to have reached an inflexion point: a point where expectations and perceptions both collectively and individually have fundamentally changed towards many things; not least towards working routines and job expectations, life goals and priorities, family, friends and even nature and the planet.
Periods of sustained lockdown, like billions of us around the globe, have experienced (and many continue to do so today) represent a massive disruption to our daily routines, but they also offer an opportunity to establish new habits and reset and reprogram ourselves.
I will not be alone when I say that the first weeks of lockdown and restrictions were psychologically challenging. I decided early in April 2020 that I needed an avenue to channel my thoughts, anxieties and mental exhaustion, so I started the only thing open to me at the time — running.
The benefits of engaging in regular physical activity are widely accepted from a physiological perspective; not least in reducing weight and the chances of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, strokes and certain types of cancer. But, I have certainly found over the course of the last 18 months that physical activity has been equally (if not more) important to my mental health and well-being too.
Over the course of 2020 and continuing into 2021 I set myself monthly goals, gamified the process (with the Asics Run Keeper app) to maintain motivation and periodically rewarded myself for milestones achieved. This year alone I have run over 900km, with the goal of attaining the magic 1000km mark by the end of the year — the incentive of new Asics shoes is a powerful motivator I have found!
This type of sustained, regimented exercise takes determination (especially when it is cold, dark, wet or snowing), dedication and drive, but the outcomes far outweigh the tight muscles, sore knees and occasional blisters: more brain space, more energy and enthusiasm, greater resiliency, increased creativity and productivity and a happier mind.
In exercise (particularly running), I have found a place where the mind has time to recharge, reset and renew. An avenue where the challenges and stresses of a busy working day, punctuated by zoom calls, deadlines and high-pressure projects, can be forgotten and replaced by the pure enjoyment of being outdoors with fresh air in the lungs, wind on your face and the tarmac of a road, or dirt of a track under your feet.
As it turns out, there is more than an ounce of truth in the old saying: a healthy body makes for a healthy mind.
“In the middle of winter, I, at last, discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” Albert Camus
Thanks to running and regular exercise I have found a level of resilience that has stood me in good stead both professionally and personally, and a sense of personal well-being I would never have expected to find during a global pandemic.
The pandemic has been a catalyst for a number of positive changes and the narrative around mental health and well-being has fundamentally changed for the better. Whether on an individual basis or at more of an organisational level, this increasingly open and pragmatic approach to talking about mental health and well-being has been a welcome (if unexpected) outcome from the pandemic.
Looking ahead to World Mental Health Day 2021, it is important to recognise that while mental health awareness and well-being is a hot topic right now, it needs to remain on corporate, political and personal agendas in the long-term too.
Just as the pandemic has presented unique challenges to each of us, I do not expect that running or exercise will be the silver bullet for everyone looking to manage their own mental health challenges.
However, I have found that if you apply the same dedication, determination and drive needed to run 1000km in a year, you will no doubt be able to find something that works equally well for you. And, that I think, is a strong and positive message that we can all buy into when talking about mental health and well-being throughout the year, not just on the 10th of October.
“I knew well enough that one could fracture one’s legs and arms and recover afterwards, but I did not know that you could fracture the brain in your head and recover from that too.” Vincent van Gogh
