By Tia Wayling, Recreation Services Co-ordinator with the Regional District of Central Kootenay
ParticipACTION released their 2021 Report Card on Physical Activity for Adults near the end of 2021. It’s not surprising that the pandemic caused a serious hit to our overall grade as our regular physical activity outlets became unavailable. While our grades for sleep, motivation, and perceived capabilities and opportunities scored a ‘B’, our sedentary behaviours and active transportation scores were a failing grade. Most of the other categories that include actual activity levels score a ‘C’ average. These grades are not terribly different from 2020, but how can we do better as a nation?
Organizations like ParticipACTION have been trying to invoke positive change since the 70s. But as with all change, it has to start somewhere, with the individual. Let’s try a new perspective on making a change since goals and resolutions have not been working that well for most. Perhaps you could set a theme to an upcoming season or year? This is not like a specific resolution aimed at perfection, but more of a broad statement that gently pushes you in a general direction to take small steps towards a positive trend line. How are themes different? A resolution usually follows the SMART guidelines (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) and usually with concrete goals and actions associated with them. If you fail, the resolution fails. A theme is more flexible, it changes as you change, and as long as there is a direction towards positive change over time, that’s success!
Whenever you have to choose between two paths, you choose the one that aligns with your theme. It can make decisions easier at times and can even start changing the way you think. As you trot along, you might even open up more paths because changing the way you think opens you up to new opportunities. The caveat is that the theme has to resonate with you. Your theme word has to mean something to you when you are at a crossroads and need to choose a path.
For this purpose of this article, it would be a physical activity theme to bring your personal physical activity grade up in the ranks. Say you have a choice to park closer to the store or park further away, so you get more daily steps. Maybe you choose to park further away on the days when you’re not in a rush. Or, maybe you choose to go for a walk after a dinner because clean up took less time than usual. Now let’s say, on your walk, you saw an ad for the Just ‘Tri’ It Triathlon at the Creston and District Community Complex scheduled for June 4 on a bulletin board. Maybe you think it would be fun to attend an event after a two-year hiatus of doing so. If you found two of your friends to cycle and swim, you could briskly walk and intermittently jog the 5km route. What fun! If you followed through with that thought and signed up a team, the small, positive-change decision you made to go on a simple walk created a new pathway to follow for not only you, but two of your friends. Think about the cascading changes that would happen after that.
Set an easy theme for yourself for the next few months and try it out. There’s nothing to plan or invest in, just make choices that better align with a theme that resonates with you and you might start trending towards positive change. My co-worker Jesse sent me this theme inspiration from a YouTube creator named CGP Grey. Look him up, he’s entertaining and has some neat videos.
READ MORE: Rec Perspectives: Improving Recreational Opportunities