Me, Walk With A Doc, and the BBC … Time to be reflective

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Me and Walk With A Doc

I joined WWAD as a leader in late 2018.

By Late 2019 WWAD Wirral hadn’t really taken off as much as I’d hoped . As I was hosting WWAD in my area. It was down to me to make it work.

The WWAD core team is located in America and globally was thriving when I joined.  It was on the up, and so I knew this can work. I knew it could work for me too. Just not then.

In my life, at this time, all I could do was to keep it afloat.. I struggled with this but I didn’t put the hoodie away and I kept posting into my Facebook group. I really wanted more people to join and hear the message! The numbers in the group grew slightly, and this was good, I began to have, maybe 20 people. I posted and I shared but I needed more coming to make it work.

BUT. Breaking into social awareness, isn’t that easy! And I soon became aware of that. I needed a way forward, and it was me and my mindset that needed to shift.

My ego, which had initially said to me “I am a doctor, everyone will find out about me, everyone will want to be there” was the first thing that had to go.

It has since silenced, and I’ve stepped down off the stage and simply let myself share my passion without pressure. And this is when things began to happen.

2020 began and I announced that “2020 would be the start!”

This was a real intention – I stated to the group that this was going to be the start point of my real walks.

And then as you know, the pandemic struck the UK.

And the mandate: “No walks in groups allowed!” came into effect.

I believe in this so much, I wasn’t going to let a small hing like a pandemic get in the way. I took the bull by the horns and thought, if Mohammed can’t come to the mountain … so I decided to go “Live” to the group to support them at this difficult time. Walk and talk over a Facebook Live!

Unbeknown to me, and really very opportunistically for me in terms of this venture, WWAD international began a “virtual walk with a doc” series. This had started as soon after it became apparent that this pandemic and the lockdown was not a short-term thing  and replaced the in-person walks.

By this time, many in person groups were well established and it was these leaders that lead the way and I was glad to be posted on the group, not only were my videos streamed in the facebook group but they were also uploaded to THE Walk with a Doc YouTube channel (follow them BTW!). I was with all of the other like minded professionals sharing their time.

So very soon after I realised this was in fact, our time! Ironically by not being able to walk made it possible for Wirral WWAD to become a success as a Virtual community.

I am so privileged and grateful to be able to offer this simply by being me.

Someone who has a deep belief in others and us as humans.

Walking as medicine! And why the BBC is inerested

What about the BBC video? I hear you cry!

How does BBC fit in?

It starts with the call from Sophie, the one that had that caught me by surprise.

Sophie  is a health correspondent from the BBC, she had got in contact with me and left a message. When we spoke, Sophie told me that they had found me doing a Walk with a Doc on my Facebook lives during the first lockdown, and loved the concept!  At last, the project could become more visible!

She wanted to use me and my service as part of a story for the News. The narrative, I was explained, was of a person who had contracted COVID-19 had become very ill indeed, was in the subcategory of people that were very overweight or obese [obese is not a word I like to use but defines a range of weight above a BMI 30].

This man made it. He made it through intensive care and literally began to take new steps to help his health and lose weight. His life is better as a result. I love this – how people can take up a lifestyle change and benefit in so many ways. It is one of the many reasons I do what I do. It is possible to make big lifestyle changes in your life at any age!

Yes, the story is about the brutal reality that obesity increases someone’s risk to become very ill with COVID. Obesity also is linked with an increase of many non-communicable diseases too such as diabetes and heart disease. When the risk of Covid drops these conditions will remain. Being overweight in turn causes heart disease and diabetes, causing the same health crisis they did BEFORE the pandemic started.  I believe my role as a doctor is part of this action. To literally walk the talk!

However, obesity is not a simple matter to be solved alone. It is complex, it is a combination of biological issues, societal pressures, of psychosocial issues and of governmental and political agendas it’s also about local culture, our own culture, our own community in which we live, all of which can make things easier or harder.

Of course, it’s about us taking responsibility too like the inspiring man in the story. Our own choices we can make. We can walk more.

If you want to learn how to optimise your life inside and out follow he link below:

Most of us in this part of the world have shoes to walk in and coats to wear when it rains. Most of us have clothes and food to come back to, and hot water to warm up with.

So, what about you? Are you ready to walk?

I’m here for you.

Are you keen to watch the programme and see what will be an uplifting story?

Follow me here and I’ll keep you posted and share the full video as soon as I am able.

I am simply a doctor trying to do their best to help others have better health.

So, in closing, happy walking, happy talking, and you’re all welcome to walk with me – a Doc!

Keep on Walking!

 Bye for now

Dr Sue