I think the majority of us would say that we are not moving as much as we were pre-lockdown and pandemic. If you are then well done!  A lot of us have lost a commute and access to our usual exercise regime and are pretty stationary at home working and/or with our kids.  Of course, we could always go on ANOTHER muddy walk. However, I don't know about you but I'm pretty fed up of taking 3 young children on muddy walks all the time - I have enough washing to do as it is!  I digress.  My point is, many of us are not moving as much as we were and not having enough movement in our lives can have all sorts of negative effects on our emotional and physical wellbeing.

So since we have all been feeling a bit glum and frustrated with lock down at work we decided to inject a bit of fun into the monotony of life and have set ourselves a physical challenge. We have challenged ourselves to walk, run, cycle or swim the distance between the Coventry and Bristol offices 21 times. That’s 146.3km each way and 3,072km in total!! If your jaw dropped at that total then you are not alone, so did mine! Why 21? 21 times for the year 2021, which will hopefully see us out of this awful pandemic.  We can all offer something different to the challenge as we all have different personal responsibilities and abilities but we are giving it our best shot whether that’s 10km per week or 60.

There’s something encouraging about working together towards a common goal. Everyone can make a contribution no matter what they can offer and all feel like they have played a part. Sometimes when you know there is no way that you can win it can be very demotivating so this way we can all be winners (but secretly we all know that Mike will win).

So far we have completed 844km of our target. 2,228km left to go, which should be easier to achieve now that the weather is getting warmer and the evenings are getting lighter. Some of the benefits of getting out to exercise include reducing the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Exercise can lower your risk of early death, increase your self esteem, improve your sleep, boost your mood and reduce stress. Exercise can help control your weight and even help your concentration at work. There are so many benefits to exercise and if we are feeling better about ourselves and are less stressed then we are more likely to be productive at work. A win-win situation for us as a company and our employees.

At ComputerMinds we do our best to invest in our employees so that they can feel they are contributing their best back. We are by no means perfect but it is an ongoing journey and we hope this challenge will have a positive impact on the team.

You know I fancy a good collage so here are some pics of the team completing the challenge...

Title photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash