Mental Health Awareness Week: ‘Moving out of my comfort zone keeps me mentally healthy’

Stepping into the crease, bat in hand, all eyes on me as I blinked in the sunlight, I was sure the nerves would come flooding.

Surprisingly, they never did as I swung and hit the first shot to defend my wicket, the relief of getting that first ball out of the way to the faint soundtrack of clapping and shouts of “Well done, Jenny!”

I played my first ever cricket matches last weekend and experienced the new-found buzz of being on a winning sports team – and I think I’ve just about come back down to earth.

Physical activity is the theme of this week’s Mental Health Awareness Week – ‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’ – and I can honestly say I’ve always been at my happiest when I’ve been out and about, doing physical exercise in the fresh air.

Over the last few years, I’ve attempted to do this a bit differently, by trying the things I’ve always fancied doing.

It sounds like a cliché, but when I hit 40 a couple of years ago, I decided to start throwing myself out of my comfort zone. Maybe it was the dread of being in my 40s being replaced by the realisation that it’s not actually that old once I got here, and shedding some of the self-consciousness I’d had in my 30s.

A year ago this week, this translated to jumping out of a plane at 11,000ft for Lancashire Mind, and floating back down to earth on a sunny day glimpsing Blackpool Tower in the distance is still one of the best things I’ve ever done.

This time last year, Jenny was throwing herself out of a plane to raise money for Lancashire Mind – she still says she’d do it again!

This year’s ‘leap’ was joining a women’s softball cricket team despite never having played cricket, or any team sport, before – inspired by bowling at my cricket-mad 11-year-old in the garden most evenings over spring and summer, and thinking I wasn’t that bad!

Maybe the biggest leap was going down to that first training session to introduce myself to a group of women who had all played together last season, but I did it and I was soon made to feel like part of the team.

And… I’ve surprised myself! I knew I loved watching cricket but now I love playing it as well. Pulling on my kit for the first time, having not played a team sport since I was at school, I felt proud that I’d been brave enough to put myself out there and try something new. And hitting my first four in a match? What a feeling! My next target is to hit a six.

Training once a week has felt like a perfect way to unwind after a day at the desk, even when it’s been cold and rainy and it would probably have been easier to stay inside.

Jenny (fourth from left) with her new cricket team

I’m already pretty active – I swim before work a few mornings a week, go to the gym regularly and love sticking on a podcast to go for a walk, whether at weekend or around hilly Rawtenstall on my lunch.

But I’ve realised it’s never too late to try something new. As a nice little sidenote, I get a monthly wellbeing allowance from Viva PR, provided through Juno, and I used this to pay for my playing membership for the season. I’ve also used it to go canoeing at my nearby country park a couple of times.

Physical exercise is definitely my way to destress, a way to recalibrate the mind and bring fresh perspective. A framed print on my desk at home features one of my favourite song lyrics – ‘Hell and heaven, they can wait for you, so go and do all the things that you want to do’ – a reminder to keep pushing myself and live a life without regret.

I just need to decide on my next challenge now!

Jenny’s not the only one at Viva using her Juno reward points to get moving…