Mental Health Awareness Week, hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, takes place from 10th to 16th May. Each year there’s a different theme, and this year’s theme is nature.  

Mark Rowland, the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation says that they chose nature for this year’s theme because of the solace so many of us have taken in spending time in nature over the past year as we’ve lived in difficult, restrictive and lonely times. 

The power of a walk outside in nature is enormous, and helps to build stamina and muscle as well as lift the spirits. This Mental Health Awareness Week, we thought we’d remind everyone how awesome our community is, and how we also help to support good emotional wellbeing. 

Fitness

When we exercise, we release feel good chemicals, called endorphins. If you think back to the last time you did an awesome workout, you’ll remember that even if you were exhausted and achy, you felt emotionally amazing. That’s endorphins at play, and if we could bottle them, we could. 

The next best thing is keeping our workout plans, challenges and quick exercise regimes fun and constantly updated. 

Endorphins are one thing, but exercising and losing weight can have a significant positive impact on our mental health. So together, we’ve got this and with Own Your Goals, accountability and progress tracking is encouraged, empowering you to stick to your plan and get the most from it – both physically and mentally. 

Nutrition

Our nutrition pages are packed with delicious recipes that are filling yet healthy and many can be made in under half an hour. They’ll suit the whole family and cater for meat lovers, pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans alike. We also have plenty of high protein, low carb or gluten free options too.

So whether you looking for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack ideas, we’ve got you covered with wholesome meals, cooked from scratch that are simple, use readily available ingredients and won’t break the bank. 

A healthy diet supports a healthy, positive mindset, we truly believe that.

Wellbeing

Our wellbeing pages are updated all the time, and we love heating from you on what you’d like us to write about next. We cover plenty of physical health topics, but our mental wellbeing topics are the ones we’re most proud of. 

We’ve recently covered dealing with anxiety now that restrictions are being lifted and finding natural ways to deal with anxiety. The perimenopause and the menopause also feature heavily in our wellbeing pages, and help many women entering this time of life or are struggling with symptoms on a physical and a mental level.

Community

You are at the heart of all that we do here at Own Your Goals, and you, an OYG Warrior, mean everything to us. We love how our community comes together and we’ve even seen post lockdown meet ups of likeminded local women just like you, supporting and empowering each other. 

Online, our community is a thriving, positive place where our warriors seek and share information and advice on everything from exercise during the menopause to help with flagging motivation. 

The whole community would be nothing without each and every one of you, and how you all support, encourage and lift each other up is simply awesome. So if you’re struggling, reach out. No topic is out of bounds and you’re pretty much guaranteed to find the help you need. You may even make lifelong friends out of it. But either way, you’re not alone. Don’t struggle in silence.