Rightio everyone, Alex McKinnon (THE Alex McKinnon), wants the Upper Hunter to do a Wellbeing Challenge.  Not just any old wellbeing challenge, but the Power of You Wellbeing Challenge!!!

Offering a daily fact about wellbeing followed by a suggested action to take, the six week Challenge starts next Monday 4 May and provides a sample of the Positive Pyschology programmes that WTAW has been funding for kids in our schools for the past couple of years.  It can be done on your own, with your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or with your teammates.

Basically, we want everyone on board so that the Upper Hunter can emerge from this whole Covid-19 experience in the best headspace possible!!!

Marika Eveleigh from St Joseph’s Aberdeen, Kirsty Hails and Cathy Gatwood from Scone’s Yellow Cottage and former Muswellbrook High Principal Elizabeth Bate who lead the Positive Education programmes in their schools have been instrumental to designing the Challenge and have ensured it has a particular relevance to life in the Upper Hunter.

It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be informative and of course it will be challenging at times and we’ll celebrate its conclusion with everyone in the Upper Hunter encouraged to cook a BBQ in their backyard at 6pm on Friday 19 June.

If you don’t think this is your cup of tea, Alex McKinnon has a message for you:

“This sort of thing mightn’t feel comfortable for some people, but sometimes in life you’ve got to do things that prepare you for change and adversity and you come out the other end with some good habits and in a much better position.”

He also said:

“When I was kid growing up in Aberdeen I wasn’t really familiar with the language of wellbeing, things like resilience just happened unconsciously – they were shown to me through sport or by seeing people at work, particularly in my family.

“This Power of You Challenge is aiming to make people consciously prioritise wellbeing because it can fall by the wayside – especially when things get busy.  I’m no saint, I definitely haven’t been doing it of late, but I love a challenge and I thrive on routine so I’ll be approaching this one like I used to do with my fitness drills for footy.

“Wellbeing is about preparing yourself to go through challenges and uncontrollable change in your life and we’re all experiencing that at the moment with Covid-19.”

So come on Upper Hunter, let’s do this!!! Tell your friends, tell your family and let’s get ready to rumble on Monday 4 May!

#powerofyou #WTAWchallenge