Sarah, Emma and Lisa from the MiSP finance team are aiming jointly to walk a million steps by the end of the month. That’s an average of just under 11,000 steps each per day, and with desk-based jobs and busy home lives that is indeed a challenge! By mid-month they had already walked over three quarters of a million steps between them so we asked them to share their experiences so far …
Why did you choose a walking challenge?
Walking is something we can each do anywhere and can try to fit it around work, the family, the animals, the chores and all the other demands on our time. It is an activity we can all do (despite tricky knees!) and we thought it would be a lovely team building challenge. We were all also really conscious that we wanted to do something mindfully and knew that we could focus on being in the present while walking and all felt that we would value that space. We also wanted to do ‘a million somethings’ as we are all so passionate about MiSP’s A Million Minds Matter appeal so this really fit the bill!
How are you logging your steps?
We each have a fitness tracker and take a photo of our steps at the end of each day and post it on Instagram. We get a great sense of achievement seeing how many steps we have all done and it motivates us to keep going! We also take photos of the things we are mindfully noticing on our walks…
What have been the best bits so far?
Sarah: I have been amazed by the feeling of walking for its own sake. It is quite a different experience from walking to get from one place to another. Having spent years trying to find an enjoyable way to keep fit – it turns out that it was right here all the time, I just didn’t realise!
Emma: I have been loving watching spring unfold. I live near a pond and have been visiting it every day. There are 3 baby coots which I have seen from birth and they are now swimming with their parents. I would have missed that if not for this challenge!
Lisa: I’ve loved the team building, getting fitter, and noticing the sounds of the birds, the colour of the flowers and blossom and seeing nature going about its day.
What are the worst bits?!
Sarah: Making opportunities to walk on days where they are not automatically there. I have had a couple of long car journeys over the past week and have had to plan ‘urban’ walks around car parks and service stations in order to make my daily total.
Emma: Getting up at 6am each morning and those days when it rained and rained but the walking still happened! I walked with a friend 6,000 steps in the pouring rain and we were absolutely soaked through..!
Lisa: Trying to keep the daily minimum steps up when it wet and cold outside! I also find it hard to ask for sponsorship as I know lots of people are on tight budgets… but it such an important cause.
Finally, why is raising money for A Million Minds Matter so important to you?
Sarah: My school years were mostly enjoyable and on the face of it, my friends and I passed though the system without incident. I wonder, though, how different things might have been if we had been introduced to mindfulness at school? How much more might we have achieved if we had been shown a way to dial down the volume on some of the stressful background noise of growing up? I think that the provision of face to face mindfulness curricula in schools is the key to allowing every child a real chance to be their best self.
Emma: One of my jobs for MiSP is to analyse surveys from Paws b and .b courses for Hub members. Reading comments from the pupils about how the course has helped them makes me want to ensure that as many young people as possible can access these amazing curricula.
Lisa: I am absolutely passionate about giving children the chance to experience mindfulness in a class room environment where it’s delivered properly. I wish I had this tool in my tool box of life at an early age.
The team has over a week left! Please sponsor Sarah, Emma and Lisa on their incredible effort here.
If you would like to undertake a personal challenge to help raise funds for our A Million Minds Matter appeal, please take a look at our Fundraising Pack for ideas and visit our JustGiving page to start fundraising for us!