When you find something that clicks, that’s when you know it is going to be great. Tracy Dunne, from Clacton, found something she can now get enthusiastic about and never believed exercise was going to have that effect. We caught up with our This Girl Can Essex ambassador to discuss what it was that made physical activity a constant passion of hers and how a health issue made her turn her life around:
“I was never one for fitness or exercise, I hated PE at school and would shy away from it at every opportunity. In my late teens I took up jogging, but it didn’t last for long. I tried various exercise classes and even bought an exercise bike, but the enthusiasm soon waned.
At the start of 2018, along with many others, I decided to make a resolution to try and get fit. A friend mentioned giving Clubbercise a go and I loved it! It’s the kind of exercise that is so much fun, you don’t realise you’re working out. However just three days after, I suffered from a Transient Ischemic Attack, or ‘mini stroke’. Being only 40 years old, I thought strokes were for much older people, but this was the wake-up call I needed to make a lifestyle change.
I was very lucky to not have suffered any long-term damage, and after my recovery period I decided to go back to Clubbercise, and as they say, the rest was history!
Over the next year, I attended Clubbercise classes twice, sometimes 3-times-a-week and it became my therapy and mental break. Lockdown has been hard as we haven’t been able to continue, but I have now found a real love for Yoga too and I’m finding it invaluable. Yoga is all about mindfulness and relaxation and it’s been a great way to forget about this crazy world we are currently in.
As well as the obvious health benefits that I have gained from continuing to do exercise over the last 3 years, I feel I am fitter, stronger and a more confident version of myself. I can’t imagine my life without any type of exercise, or indeed what my health would be like.”
Tracy encompasses exactly what the This Girl Can messaging is all about. No-one gets to choose how you exercise other than you. This Girl Can believes that however you want to move and whatever motivates you, it’s worth celebrating and today we do just that. Celebrate and share the story of Tracy Dunne and we are sure she will inspire you to take the plunge and find something to get excited about.
