Tags
One
Exercise - Obviously as a professional boxer I need to train for my sport, however staying active in general is essential for my wellbeing. Even on the days where I feel most tired or stressed, once I workout I feel better! Whether it's training for a fight and pushing myself to my limits, or enjoying some recreational exercise like walking, cycling or joining a group fitness class, it always makes a hugely positive difference to the way I feel. During lockdown, keeping up my training has been essential both for keeping my boxing goals on track and for my wellbeing, and to do so we've had to be creative and improvise! My boyfriend has been really helpful in holding pads for me and we've also done circuit sessions together with limited equipment, we've sometimes used tin cans for hand weights and bags filled with bottled water as weights! Either way, as hard as it can be to get motivated to train whilst in lockdown, it will always make you feel better!
Two
Connection - It's really important to me to feel connected to others, of course during lockdown this connection differs to usual! I absolutely love hugs so that's important, talking and listening to others, feeling loved and being loving, and laughter too is really important when connecting with those around me. Fortunately me and my boyfriend Tim can isolate together so we share lots of hugs, we get on really well, laugh a lot and we're very loving, but we're also having some great interactions with our families and friends online and this has been a really lovely way to all stay connected at this time.
Three
Purpose - As an athlete and a person, doing things with purpose is important to me. In sporting terms, this means working towards a goal that I want to achieve in boxing. Beyond that, I also need to have purpose, to feel I'm making a positive difference to others and acting on the things I feel most passionate about. Again, the lockdown has drastically changed a lot of the ways that I go about this, but I've been able to try and do positive things for others by doing free online fitness classes, quizzes for family and friends, live interviews with other athletes on Instagram to inspire people, chatting on the radio each day about staying motivated, I do a lot of public speaking usually and now I've been doing some virtual talks for companies, and finally, I'm in the process of setting up the charity that I founded, Pave The Way, so I've had plenty of purpose and ways to follow my passions during the lockdown.
Four
Nature and travel - I absolutely love to travel, but since this isn't something I'm able to do each day then I'd say nature is a big part of that need to wander, explore and get outside. Lockdown has restricted all of our movements of course, but it's meant we have discovered many more places close to home when we've made the most of our daily outdoor exercise time. The fact that we are appreciating our outdoor time so much more since lockdown, it has been great to savour these moments outside, and take time to notice the skyline, the plants and trees and all the incredible beauty that nature has to offer, no matter what else we might be experiencing in our lives.
Five
Fun - I love to have fun and laugh, and I don't like to stay serious for too long. We've made sure to have fun each day during lockdown by playing games and enjoying our time together, we've invented our own 'corona cup' league where we play tons of different games and sports against one another and enter the scores on a board after! We've also had some hilarious times with our families and friends during our online interaction. As the saying goes 'life is better when you're laughing' and of course depending on the circumstances it's not always possible, but when it is, it definitely feels good for the soul!
