It’s that time of year again when New Year’s Resolutions are the talk of the dinner table. Whether your goal is to run the London Marathon, take up Pilates or spend more time with family, you need to do this one thing first: plan your ‘Web of Support’.
I first came across this idea when training as a 3rd Age Instructor with Jenny Burrell, and now use it regularly with my clients. It’s basically a diagram, with a circle in the middle – that’s YOU, from which branches grow out to other circles, each representing an area of your life where you need support – so mine included things like childcare, a shoulder to cry on, housekeeping, DIY, car sharing, dog walking….you fill in the circles with names of people in your life who could help you in those areas.
For me, it was a really significant exercise, for 3 reasons:
- I hadn’t realised that I had huge gaping holes in some areas of my life. If I dropped that spinning plate, who would be there to pick it up? I devoted time to working out how I could fill those gaps, thinking about friends I could reciprocate childcare with for example, or other wellness practitioners with whom I could swap services (eg a Pilates session for an Indian Head Massage!).
- Finally seeing all my ‘circles’ filled out, made me feel that I wasn’t alone, that I was part of a community of mutual support and friendship – this was a bit of a light bulb moment for me, and made me feel more resilient and nurtured.
- It meant that I could put in place plans to ask for help so that I could achieve the goals I had set for myself, without reverting back to old habits of taking on too much and going into overwhelm. My New Year’s Resolution that year was to complete a 100km sponsored walk in memory of my brother, and using my web of support meant I could fit in my training walks and recovery time without putting strain on other aspects of my life.
As a result, on the hottest weekend of August 2017, I walked 100km from Eastbourne to Arundel and raised over £2,650 for Addaction, a drug and alcohol charity. This far exceeded my fundraising target of £1,000. I couldn’t have done it without the support of family and friends, and my wonderful clients who joined me on the many training walks.
So before you commit to those New Year Resolutions, take some time to build your web of support. You’ll be amazed at the opportunities it will open up to you.
Is 2019 the year you take back control of your pelvic health through our Holistic Core Restore ® Programme? Or perhaps this is the year you take up Pilates? Contact me at [email protected] if you’d like to know more.