My Journey With Health And Fitness – Supporting Strangers On Their Journeys

Yesterday I was sitting on my back patio reading old posts on FB which I know I shouldn’t do. Of course I start reading the ones from when my brother died and I start crying (grief is such a hard thing to deal with). My husband joined me on the deck and asked what was wrong so I explained it to him. A few minutes later he goes into the condo and comes out with 1) dominoes 2) chips 3) beers. Ok, the chips were not the best thing because I ate a bunch of them. However, the dominoes were a good thing because it wasn’t long until we were into a cutthroat game, calling each other names (in good fun) and having a great time. It was the best diversion he could have given to me.

I seem to have now have a new group of strangers on X (you know through the algorithms) and they are all on a health and fitness journey. There’s a young fellow from the UK who is overweight and started running this year to help raise awareness for mental health (something he struggles with). He recently ran his 1st marathon and is proud of how much weight he has lost to date. There is another fellow in the Southern States who is quite obese but alternates walking and swimming as his exercise choices. He berates himself if he has a slip in missing a day but has done great in terms of increasing his stamina and losing weight since he start his journey in July. There are several others that I have been watching as well.

But I don’t just read their posts, I comment. These comments are always supportive and I tell them they can do this. The fellow from the states is trying to get himself to the point where next year he can walk a 1/2 marathon so every time he posts an improvement I cheer him on. I also try to lift him up when something happens and he can’t get a workout in (he is also caretaker for a very ill mother). Despite the fact he gets thousands of comments he always likes my responses. I do the same for the young man in the UK and I kept telling him I couldn’t wait to see the posts about completing the marathon. I have now joined a group on X for people on a health and fitness journey so that I can broaden the number of people I am encouraging.

Why is this important? Because this journey is hard and people on it need all the support they can get. I know because every time I reached a milestone and posted it the comments from my friends helped keep me going. As well, being positive with others just simply makes me feel good. I have been down this path and I know what words helped lift me up when I was struggling. I also know the words that encouraged me to move even further when I posted my about my changing weight (and at that time my wardrobe). I figure it made such a difference to me that the best thing I can do is pay it forward.

Finally I do this so that I get something positive out of X. There is so much negativity on all social media right now that if I intend to keep using it I need to make sure it is for a good reason. I encourage all of you to find some strangers that you can support, it will be so fulfilling.