How everyday adventures boost mental health

In an attempt to keep on top of things, I’d stopped riding my bike, I hadn’t climbed a mountain in years, I wasn’t eating particularly well and felt tired all the time. Despite having everything society told me I needed to be happy, I was living for those precious few hours on a Saturday morning, before the dread of facing it all again on Monday returned.

I knew very little about mental health at the time. I’d always been a sensitive soul, a bit-of-a-worrier, and believed my inner critic that I should just be able to cope better. I felt trapped, and the thought of living like this until retirement terrified me. Something had to change.

The hardest part of all this can often be breaking the routine and getting out of the door. The health benefits (both physical and mental) of movement are well documented but many of us feel we don’t have the time to make it a regular part of our lives.

Here are my top tips for incorporating more movement into your day:

Adapt your usual routine

You don’t always need more time to get active. Challenge yourself to fit something into your routine. Could you cycle part of your commute instead of getting the train? Or perhaps go for a walk for your next team meeting or networking event.

Take a friend

Finding the motivation to break the cycle of eat-work-sleep-repeat is a lot easier if you have a friend to do it with. Perhaps someone from the school run has mentioned they share your passion for tennis, or there might be a colleague who’s revealed they used to do a bit of yoga. Talk about your plans and see if you can agree to head off together. It’s much harder to back out if someone else is relying on you.

Prioritise the activity

Once you’ve decided what you are going to do and when you are going to do it, put it in your calendar and stick to it. It’s so easy to cancel and feel the time would be better spent catching up on emails or getting ahead after hours while the phone isn’t ringing. Thing is, there is always more work to do. You’re generally more productive and less likely to make a mistake if you allow yourself time to switch off.

Challenge perfectionism

Many in the legal sector are perfectionists. This mentality can sometimes be a barrier to being more active but it really doesn’t matter if you aren’t the best at something, or what others think. I’ve come to accept that there will always be people younger, fitter and more talented than me! As long as you are having fun, then you can give yourself permission to indulge in whatever degree of movement is right for you.