100 for PKU

There is a campaign to raise awareness, and money(!!!), for PKU. If you can spare any amount of change, large or small, to support the NSPKU in their campaigns for better treatment and in supporting us then please donate and enjoy the warm fuzzy it gives you.

Get active in June for PKU day 2021

This campaign has been headed by the NSPKU and the indefatigable & semi-retired Anita MacDonald. (Side note: Many suspect Anita is actually a Terminator, a cyborg sent from the future to campaign for PKU. And she absolutely will not stop, ever!¹)

The campaign aims to get people active by setting a target to hit this month. Your target is 100.

100 km cycling or running, 100 minutes exercising, 100 push-ups, 100 lengths of the pool, 100 hula hoops-a-hooping... The possibilities are endless. This is a great idea which both improves your mental health and keeps PKU in the public eye following the Call the Midwife episode which screened in May.

100 possibilities

This challenge has been taken up in fine style. A brief perusal of the UK PKU twitter scene offers up:

• Jen Dewey, a mum of two with PKU who is walking 100 miles in June. She has made a strong start, and you can support her efforts here.
• Danii Bee is going to run or walk 100 miles in June. Help her along here.
• Clair (@ClairBear42) got a head start on all of us by doing 5 pushups a day for the last 28 days. Impressed with the 15 per day you’ve been doing Clair!

Those are great ideas and I'd like to join in, but I’m recovering from a broken toe. The most annoying of injuries. The Diet Coke of injuries. Nothing is really wrong, but you can’t walk comfortably for long, or run, or do HIIT. I tried push-ups, squats, star jumps, mountain climbers, planks… all bend the broken digit in painful ways.

Emotional energy drain

Maintaining my usual level of exercise hasn’t been easy, so I can’t commit to doing more. But another thing I have been struggling a little with lately is noticing the little things. As life has opened up a bit more, I've lost track of the little things in all my worry about the big things.

Maintaining a balance between seeing the people I love and the needs to stay safe & avoid another wave of infections is taking a lot of my emotional energy. I’m struggling to replace that energy. And to get out of my lockdown habits of doom scrolling or spending hours reading clothing reviews without buying anything. A change of mindset is needed. So I’ve decided to do:

100 kind things for PKU in June

These might be:

• kind things for myself, cause you gotta take care of you.
• kind things for others, cause supporting others gives us a little warm fuzzy feeling inside. (Go on! Makes someones day with a compliment or a fresh cuppa, or perhaps a donation…)
• kind things for the planet

I’m hoping that these small acts of kindness mean I will focus less on the negative things which seem to be overwhelming at times. And that by actively looking for positive changes which I can make, I might overcome the feeling of helplessness which became ingrained as the pandemic unfurled.

4 a day

Well, actually 100 kind things in June is 3.33 recurring kind things per day. But I’m a little behind and aiming for four things gives me a little leeway. I’ll post them on Twitter with the #100KindThingsForPKU hashtag and hope you can keep me accountable or join in!

1. If anyone has a photo of Anita in aviator glasses and a leather jacket, then that is all the proof we need. ↩︎