Late Sunday morning a week ago found me lying on the floor of my kitchen counting very loudly from one to 26. The reason for this was not complete lockdown madness – not yet anyway – but a charity initiative called the 2.6 challenge, urging people to complete activities for charity on the day when the London Marathon was due to be held. As a former runner of the marathon I wanted to get involved, and recruited the rest of my family to help.
This is what led to me lying on the floor – doing 26 spine curls while shouting the numbers out as I did it so that everyone else in the family could hear, either from the other side of the room or from their own homes via Zoom. Everyone was doing different activities, from press ups to sit ups to lunges. The problem was that some of us were a little, ahem, faster than others, so there was a bit of confusion with everyone shouting out different numbers at the same time. It was chaos. It was also very good fun, and we all made a donation to a chosen charity after we completed the challenge.
The 2.6 challenge was the most fun I’ve had in weeks, and I’ve been thinking about why. Of course it’s nice to do things with loved ones who you’re not able to see in person any more, and donating to charity makes most people feel good immediately. But I think it was more than that, I think having a project that I could organise and execute gave me back a sense of being in control, at a time when everything else is out of my hands.
I’ve written before about the benefits of creating small areas of your life where you feel in control, and I think it’s part of the reason why so many people have turned to creative activities like baking, painting and sewing during lockdown. Having an event to organise is a welcome distraction, however small and informal it may be. My children immediately asked if they could organise another Zoom event for the family based on a similar challenge, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with.
In our house we have also created several routines as a way of trying to maintain some control over our lives and have things to look forward to. On Fridays we take it in turns to choose a film, and often arrange an hour of drinks with friends over Zoom beforehand to kick off the start of the weekend. Wednesday evening is when we eat with family members in their different locations, again over video call, just for 40 minutes.
We’re all living in difficult circumstances, through a crisis whose tragedy and hardship we are only just beginning to understand. It can be easy to feel guilty for trying to organise frivolous activities but the reality is that we need fun to keep us going, wherever we can find it.