Port Loop with Raj Sanghera - Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

Rounding off the week with a run. Ideal! 🙂

Loved catching up with Raj Sanghera, Head of Planning & Enabling at Homes England today for a tour of Port Loop and amble along the Birmingham Canal into Brindley Place. And, what a host. Happy to go out of his way to help others and in doing so create and build that sense of community so evident in and around the area.

There's been lots of posts on various platforms this week to coincide with #mentalhealthawarenessweek2022. How great is it that we're now more comfortable, individually and as a society, sharing our stories with each other and in doing so increase the level of conversation around the subject? 👏🏼

For many, exercise, and specifically running, is their coping mechanism, a tool to keep their #mentalhealth in check. We all know the old adage, running is 90% mental and 10% physical. I certainly agree with that.

This year's theme for mental health awareness week is #loneliness, which instantly made me think of Alan Sillitoe's 1959 novel, the Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner! In fact, the running community is famed for its openness and desire to welcome newcomers so I'd urge anyone who's not thought about running with others to get out there and try it. Join a club, pop along to a #parkrun or just suggest a catch up with a friend.

It's amazing what you learn about other people, be it relative strangers or those you thought you knew inside out, whilst out on a jog. Maybe it's the fresh air, freedom and sense of space which encourages us to open up. More often than not, there'll be a common bond which we never knew existed.

Thanks for the tour, coffee and chinwag Raj. 👍🏼 ☕