Gina Martin: Why I'm Taking Body Positive's 30 Day Mental Wellness Challenge
The Mental Wellness Challenge consists of daily tips based on five key themes to improve your mental wellbeing.
Gina Martin
It’s 2019 and I feel like we’re finally starting to realise that our mental health is just as important as our physical health. That we can’t carry on with the same old habits (I’m looking at you, social media) and expect different results, and that maybe much of what ‘modern life’ is made up of isn’t the best for our mental wellness. For the past two years I’ve been working at breakneck speed.
In 2017 I launched a campaign to make upskirting – the act of taking non-consensual photos up someone’s skirt – illegal and to make that happen with no political or legal experience required me to absolutely commit my life. I had a full-time job while also running national political and media campaigns to get the law changed. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and although I am mostly a happy, lucky and privileged person, I think without even realising, I began to de-prioritise some simple actions that could have made such a positive difference to my mental wellness.
The fact of the matter is, we can only focus on what we can control and those are the choices we make each and every day. That’s why I decided to take on the Body Positive 30 Day Mental Wellness Challenge.
The challenge, set by Dr Zoe Williams is made up of daily tasks built around the five pillars of mental wellness: connecting, getting active, keeping learning, giving to others and being mindful. Now, these categories may sound obvious – you might be thinking ‘well of course I’d feel better doing these things!’ – but it’s all too easy to forget them, and they can have a significant psychological effect.
Want to join the challenge?
If you want to join Gina Martin and others doing the 30 Day Mental Wellness Challenge all you have to do is follow these steps:
- Follow on instagram
- Check the account daily to find out what the challenge of the day will be
- Accept the challenge and do it!
- If you feel like joining in and would like to share how you get on use the hashtag #MentalWellnessChallenge and tag @91热爆Body Positive
You can follow how Gina gets on by checking her daily Instagram Stories on the account.
Goodluck and have fun! 馃槃
When I saw the challenges that 91热爆 Body Positive had set for me I realised how little I’d been incorporating these five essential pillars into my life. I never really set aside time to be mindful and I definitely don’t get my body moving enough. It’s become clear that I’ve been putting my mental wellness at the bottom of my to-do list for the past two years, so this felt like the perfect opportunity to do something small, and simple, every day and see what positive outcomes could come from it.
Chatting to Rochelle deffo made my day a little brighter and I was proud of myself for making an effort even though at first I was nervous!Gina Martin
To call them challenges is actually a little bit much. Sure, I’ve only completed the first week, and some of them (so far) I had to plan in advance and make the effort, but most of them were things I could incorporate into what I was doing anyway. It’s been really doable and enjoyable!
has been all about connecting – and I don’t mean online. Yes, we’re more connected than ever, but we’re replacing real face-to-face, nuanced interactions with the binary ‘like’ or ‘dislike’, with getting into scroll-holes on Instagram and Twittter – basically with quantity over quality.
So, this week I focused on really having a genuine human connection each day of the week.
My Day One challenge was to ‘Go On A Friend Date’, so I took an hours lunch break to pop to a local farm with one of my close friends and spend some time looking at (wanting to cry at) all the baby animals. I met the chef in the cafe there and she told us about her job. Sam and I caught up on life and laughed at the animals.
It would have been so easy for me to just head to a cafe and sit alone scrolling on my phone during that hour, but because I’d undertaken this challenge I had the opportunity to completely refresh my day and reset my mind. It totally pulled me out of what I was doing – the adrenaline and stress of the work day – which meant I headed back to work feeling genuinely calm about approaching the rest of my day.
On Day Two I had to ‘Talk To Someone New’ so that evening, when I headed into my local food shop to grab dinner bits I made the conscious decision to actually take the time at the till, while packing my groceries, to chat to the cashier who I see everyday, yet have never spoken to.
I can see how finding a little calming oasis helps your mood.Gina Martin
I know her face, I know when she’ll be there and when she won’t, but I don’t know her name, her age or anything about her life. Why?
Turns out her name is Rochelle. We had a chat, took some selfies and since then every time I see Rochelle we both have a laugh and it perks up my day – and I hope it does that for her, too.
The next four weeks of challenges will be varied. Some I’ll be good at and some not-so-much, (‘Get Active’ will be pretty funny, I’m sure!) But it’s not about being good or not, it’s about taking some initiative and responsibility for my outlook and attitude.
It’s about small changes that can, when it comes down to it, have a big impact, and I’m looking forward to continuing it way after my 30 days are up.
So, why not join me? Instead of mindless scrolling, let’s make Instagram a healthier place for the next 30 days and improve our daily mental attitudes by taking a positive action every day and shouting about it.
After all, they say there’s power in numbers, and we all have the power to make our mental wellness that little bit better, together.
