Did you know April is Stress Awareness Month?

April is Stress Awareness Month and this year’s theme is community. Community is all about having a sense of belonging and connection to others around you — it’s more important than ever that we re-establish social bonds with others, and recover from the isolation and loneliness that the pandemic inflicted on many.

Josh Rufus, Manager of our Professional Services team in London, tells us how he discovered a love for running during lockdown and now runs to manage stress and look after his mental and physical wellbeing.

Josh, how did you get into running?

Growing up, I was always a competent runner, but pretty much stopped when I went to university in my 20’s. In May 2020, like many people across the UK, I went on furlough for a time. I found myself struggling mentally and physically and I thought to myself, what am I going to do about this?

I decided to attempt to run, and managed to persuade my then seven-year-old daughter to accompany me on my journey. We went on a slow jog along the river to Hammersmith Bridge and back, and it has snowballed from there. I found that running regularly has helped me drop some weight, which then gives me the excuse to eat and drink what I want!

Mentally, it helps me forget any woes that I have and forget about the rigours of a busy life. For the hour or so when I am running, I don’t think about any external problems and listen to my breathing and just run! It’s my excuse to listen to a whole album back to back, I had forgotten how much I love Oasis and U2! I’m lucky that there are lots of great running routes around Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common, and along the River Thames. I often fall asleep dreaming of the routes I will run the following day!