The Tameside Radio presenter suggests six little things we can all do to give ourselves a much-needed lift in these continuing challenging times.

It’s been another respectable week on the weigh-in, and it feels like I could definitely reach the two stone off milestone by the end of April. 

I’m still a little shocked that my weight now starts with a ‘13’ for the first time in about a decade, and the feeling of buying new jeans in a smaller waist size at the weekend was also pretty amazing, I’ll be honest. 

Big thanks to Gail and Jane from Slimming World Tameside for all their mentoring and for putting up with my over-thinking!

The feeling of clothes fitting got me thinking about some of the little things in life that can give us all a lift, at a time when the news agenda is relentlessly bleak. I’ve narrowed it down to six things:

1) Going for a walk. I can’t emphasise enough the power of a wander! Even just around the block for half an hour is good, but preferably in the park, where you can enjoy the sight of blooming spring daffodils, squirrels being chased by dogs and maybe even pay a visit to the ice cream van if you’re lucky. The endorphins released by a simple stroll are incredible, and as someone who spends a lot of my time sitting down at work, I feel so much better having achieved over 10,000 steps on most days in the last few weeks.

2) Live theatre. I wrote last week about Sofia and I visiting the Lowry to see the excellent Matt Chorley tearing strips off Cabinet ministers in a most entertaining way. The arts are balm for the soul, and this week you could pop to see Hyde Musical Society doing All Shook Up at Hyde Festival Theatre or Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, to name just a couple. It’s so much better seeing a live show than watching it on telly!

3) Random act of kindness. My mate Alan has had a really rough time recently, so I sent him a card full of insults for a bit of banter. He loved it and it really put a big smile on his face. Now you have to make sure you pick the right friend for the greetings card I selected, but the point is to tell someone you’re thinking about them. If you’ve got any postage stamps lurking in your wallet or purse bought before the recent price hike, why not put one of them to good use and send someone an item in the post that isn’t a rocketing utility bill?

4) Give a local business a nice review online. In a time when prices are constantly rising, and there’s a lot of talk of people cutting back on luxuries, if there’s a place you love, tell them in the form of a nice review. It’s a small thing, but it could really lift their day and make them feel appreciated. That reminds me, I must give a five star review to the fruit n’ veg stalls outside at Ashton Market, as they really do the best blueberries I’ve ever tasted.

5) Switch off your phone for a bit and pick up a book. Clearly, we all have notifications pinging all day, and digital distractions make reading a book nigh on impossible for me. That’s why I’m a big fan of turning my mobile off for a while (or at least sticking it on silent) so I can get cracking on my book mountain. This is a work in progress, and I might have got through them all by 2030. I obviously include a read of your local newspaper in this category too, which you’re clearly doing right now if you’ve got this far down the column. Well done!

6) Remember it’s OK to have days when you don’t feel strong enough to watch the news. What’s happening in Ukraine is beyond words, and one report in particular I saw on Sunday night from Jeremy Bowen really affected me. It seems from reaction on Twitter that I wasn’t the only one. A woman weeping for her son, whose body she had to move in a wheelbarrow and bury in the garden. Just like the horrors we learned about at school that we thought might be consigned to the history books. The efforts to fundraise and help locally have been phenomenal, and a recent ITV concert raised over £12m in a single evening. Proof if it were needed that most people are basically good. It’s not what you’d believe if you just read the posts on social media from those who bash their keyboards the loudest. Look after yourself.

You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on the 'Super Scoreboard' show on Saturdays from 3pm to 7pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM. 

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