This month, I’ll be doing as many push ups as my body, arms and legs can handle, to raise money for mental health.
I have joined my gym, Swan Hill Leisure Centre, in doing The Push-Up Challenge. The target number of push-ups varies from day-to-day to reflect a different mental health statistic.
Today’s fact is about loneliness and the topic is: Loneliness impacts many in Australia, a feeling I have felt many times over in the last four-and-a-half years living in small country towns away from family and friends, which included a stint of 15 months in another state (Queensland).
The challenge is now on day 4. The number of push-ups to be done today are 180.
According to The Push-Up Challenge website, loneliness affects around 1.80 million Australians over the age of 15 who are left feeling like they have “insufficient social support, and one in four of us are feeling lonely three or more times per week”.
“At the peak of pandemic restrictions in 2020, loneliness was the most commonly reported social stressor in the country,” the website said.
Funnily enough for me, because I felt that everyone was in the same boat as me, being forced to be at home during COVID lockdowns and restrictions (I was living on my own at the time) it was the time that I felt my mental health had actually gotten better, not worse.
If you would like to donate to my cause, monies raised will go towards headspace Swan Hill. They are an important part of the Swan Hill community, because if you help children and youth with their mental health at a younger age, hopefully it means they will be able to better manage their mental health when they grow up.
Donate here: https://www.thepushupchallenge.com.au/pushuperer/301202
Lillian Altman 