This post was written by the Founder and Director of PROJECT:TALK CIC, George Cole. George is also a fourth year medical student at University of Bristol.
Right, stop what you’re doing. Now, get up and run. No, don’t complain, just do it! You haven’t got a choice. Keep running until you’re told to stop.
Oh, and whilst you’re running, make sure you don’t let anything slip, ok? What do you mean you can’t carry on doing your day job as effectively as usual! Find a way! Pathetic.
If this seems a bit of an obscure and unpleasant situation to you, then you’re not alone. You could think of the COVID-19 pandemic a little like this – being plunged into uncertainty, no choice in the matter, completely unprepared and unfamiliar. A mental marathon.
The undeniable truth is that this virus isn’t only having an impact on the physical health of our community; we are all being pushed to the very limits of our mental fitness, too. Not only that, but we’re simultaneously expecting ourselves to be able to operate as normal, carry on with our lives and not feel overwhelmed at all. But perhaps that’s still not enough? We love a challenge, don’t we?! So, we’re also expecting ourselves to study complex degrees, immerse ourselves in University life and achieve highly.
Now, let’s go back to the marathon… we all have different levels of fitness at the start. Whilst physical fitness is determined by things like our age, activity levels and lifestyle choices, our mental fitness varies depending on things like our past experiences, environment and resources. However, you’ll probably find that even the fittest of athletes in our hypothetical marathon gets tired, gets a stitch and reaches their limit eventually.
If we want our human subjects to travel further and faster, we could add some supporters on the sideline. Some with bottles of water, some with high-carb energy bars and some giving words of support. We’d expect our subjects to take the bottle of water and food with no shame, wouldn’t we?
So, in this mental fitness marathon, don’t be ashamed to reach out, take the bottle of water and be each other’s supporter on the sideline.
If you need to reach out for a bottle of water to help you with your marathon, it’s really easy…
PROJECT:TALK Bristol Society are offering friendly support calls, from established University of Bristol students, to fellow peers in need of a chat at such a challenging time.
So, if you’d like water (in the form of a relaxed chat or some advice from our trained peer support team) we’d love to hear from you. Just fill out our short form and one of the team will be in touch very soon!
You can also access water from the University’s wellbeing service through this quick form.
Reach for the bottle of water!
To find out more about PROJECT:TALK and help change the way we view mental health through pioneering mental fitness at the University of Bristol, you can visit our website.
You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram or drop us an email at info@projecttalk.org.uk.