Kent Sport’s Strength and Conditioning Instructor, Chris Payne takes inspiration from two extraordinary people and shares how we can use our time at home to benefit us in future and improve our wellbeing.
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” – C.S. Lewis
Two extraordinary people made the minor news headlines this month. The first was a gentleman known as “Mr P”. At the tender age of 101 Mr P tested positive for COVID_19 and was hospitalised in Italy – only to leave the hospital a week later fully recovered. The second was our very own Dame Vera Lynn, who celebrated her 103rd birthday on the 20th March.
For those of you unfamiliar with Vera Lynn, she was the voice of the Second World War and would spread her messages of love and hope to the nation through the power of song. Vera Lynn was voted the “sweetheart of the armed forces” and she took to the World Wide Web on her birthday this year to call on the British public to pull together once more during these hard times. Having been born during and surviving the Spanish flu pandemic and enduring the Second World War, clearly the COVID_19 virus is not going to break the spirit of Mr P or Dame Vera Lynn.
In fact we can use the title of Dame Vera Lynn’s famous song to develop our own resolve during this time, take it away Vera:
“We’ll Meet Again”
My family and I have saved two jars, for the first jar we have cut some small pieces of squared paper and each of us have written down activities that we normally take for granted but cannot currently do, for example:
- Do a jigsaw with Grandad (Kadey, age 4).
- Give Nanny a cuddle (Kiana, age 6).
- Take a walk along the sea front in Hythe and visit our favourite Fish N Chip shop (Chris, 40).
- Go for a walk at our favourite park, Bedgebury (Lisa, age?).
The aim here is once the country gets back to normal; we will make time for and be sure to do every piece of paper in the jar.
Furthermore, “you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” so why not join us as we use our second jar to write down all the things we would like to do but never have time for. The aim here is to write a list of jobs/goals/dreams that you and your family would like to get done and pop them into the second jar. As you accomplish them remove them from the jar, and we should expect to feel a sense of personal accomplishment no matter how large or small the goal.
Stay well!
Wellness Wednesday is part of Kent Sport’s #KentSportStayWellAtHome series of daily blogs and vlogs to keep you positive during these unusual times. To be sure not to miss our updates, Like us on Facebook and follow on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports – we hope you enjoy and join in!