Meet Rosie
Keeping moving with M.E and depression
Rosie is resident of Boyatt Wood and also an Eastleigh Borough Council employee. She has found doing home Pilates a huge benefit during the pandemic.
Rosie has been living with chronic fatigue syndrome, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), since the age of 9 and also lives with depression. Her condition wasn’t diagnosed until the age of 13 and has battled with the stigma attached to invisible conditions.
The ME can make exercise difficult as symptoms include muscle and joint pain. However, Rosie has recognised how beneficial exercise can be, especially for her depression, but also for ME when her body allows.
“I have always struggled with people thinking it is laziness and people not always being very nice about it”
How Rosie got moving
Prior to lockdown, Rosie would take a 10 minute walk to work, but has now found the benefits of home Pilates during the pandemic. She has the self-motivation and enjoys the fact that it can be done in as little as 10 minutes. After getting into a routine with the Pilates, Rosie experienced a rough patch with her ME and the Pilates stopped. As things started to improve, she restarted Pilates and it immediately improved her mental health and her physical wellbeing.
“You can’t ever fully explain the positive difference it makes to your mental health. It is so easy to say it releases endorphins and you can be sceptical, but I can say, it really does.”
Rosie also really enjoys playing Pokemon Go. It uses mobile devices with GPS to locate, capture, train, and battle virtual creatures, which appear as if they are in the player's real-world location. She had researched about the game and found that it had helped many people living with social anxiety. This started as an activity she would do with her nephew and continued to join online communities and has made a close friend through this hobby. The motivation to catch and collect encourages Rosie to go a bit further than she might have gone.
“I liked the idea and concept. Having the world as a map on your screen and with characters.”
Rosie enjoys living in Boyatt Wood and exploring the green space and wooded areas. Being in a natural environment boosts her mental health, so she tries to get in the outdoors whenever possible.
“If you start off small you have nothing to lose”
Rosie knows her condition is unpredictable and inconsistent, and this will always mean she might not know how she’ll feel the next day. Despite this - she is determined to keep exercising due to the benefits it brings her mind and body.
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