Ivor Heller talked extensively about his way of coping with life at home in an interview for the London Health Podcast.
In the 10th episode in the series of Thrive London Good Thinking Podcasts, our Commercial Director said that his daily fitness routine and his unique social media challenges are keeping him active during lockdown.
In his interview, which you can listen to by visiting the London Health Podcast website, Ivor said: “For me personally, I decided after I was confined to barracks that I was going to try to maintain my relatively new get fit scheme and try to stick to 10,000 steps a day. I’ve done a challenge every day on Twitter from Monday to Friday, keeping up my steps. Some of them have been quite ridiculous and I’ve made a complete fool of myself! I keep getting messages from people though saying that they really enjoy what I’m doing and they look forward to it every day. If people keep enjoying it and setting me tasks that don’t involve me removing my clothing and performing in front of a camera, which is what an awful lot of them want me to do, I will keep doing them! I will keep having fun. That’s really inspired me actually. The whole fitness thing has given me a kick. I’ve got a 55-step garden, so I’m doing about 200 circuits a day! I’m fitter now than I’ve ever been – it’s ridiculous!
“One of the hardest things for people to do in life, and it’s something I learned a long time ago, is that they go through life without ever finding their voice in things. For your mental health and well-being, it's important to be able to talk about how you feel and why you are actually doing things. Instead of feeling like you are doing something because people think you should be doing it, doing something because you want to do it is absolutely best for your mental health. Don’t feel pressured to do stuff, do stuff because you want to do it. That will spur you on and that’s what I’ve found with this fitness thing, which really doesn’t come naturally to me. The more I push myself, the better the feeling of satisfaction and the greater my well-being has been. I’m really managing to stay out of even momentary slumps.
“I feel like I’m in a fight actually! Not just for me, but to keep the people around me up to some level of normality. I’ve always been a leader and tried to lead from the front. What can I do from home to do that? Well, I can show people that you can still have fun and enjoy yourself. It’s really important to do those things. If watching a boxset is what floats your boat, that’s what you need to do. You need to do the things that make you happy, as long as it’s not doing you damage.”
In his interview, Ivor also talks about the fantastic work in the community of the Dons Local Action Group and the way forward for AFC Wimbledon during these unprecedented times.
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