How Social Networks Control Your Health

I read this article this morning and it made me think of the WSA as a social network; which is what MeetUp.com bills itself as being regardless of the type of group.

Anyway, in this article the author talks at length about church-based social networks but interestingly, those networks he focuses on are created to promote and improve health. Let's back out the reference to church and . . . we already have the social network to promote health (plus adventure, exploration, etc.).

Among our members we have a small core who are very active, participating in 4 or more WSA events per month (and a few who participate in way more than that). And, for the most part if appearance is a health indicator, many of those members are 'healthy'.

Then we have more that 250 members who look at the web site frequently, attend 'social' events and maybe do an occasional hike or bike ride. We are happy to see that level of participation and guess they may be pretty healthy too.

Our third sub-set of members are those we see on the web page (sort of like seeing you guys on Facebook) but we never see outside. Health there - no way to know?

It is interesting to speculate WHY people sign up for this group, which is among the most active meetup groups in the entire 90,000 group meetup system.

As the article postulates, many people want to be more healthy, but they:

go to the doctor looking for a magic elixer or
need an extrinsic motivator (someone else putting it on the calendar first)
want/ need peer support
I have always felt that WSA is pretty good about #2 and #3; not much we can do if people want or need to engage in #1.

However, WSA is good at #s 2 & 3 from 'my' peer perspective.

What we look forward to is for more people to feel or agree that WSA supports their #s 2 & 3. The only way we can do that is if MORE members put more activities on the calendar AT YOUR OWN LEVEL.

Not everyone's:

fitness level is the same
time availability is equal
motivation matches anyone else's
interpretation of 'peer support' is the same
There are no 'guides, paid leaders, fitness coaches' in this group. Everything on the calendar is member-driven; and, with 284 members as of today, you can bet that if you want to 'do it' so do at least a few other WSA members on any given day.

If you want to do a mellow hike (you can define 'mellow' becasue yours and my 'mellow' maybe 3 miles and 90 minutes apart). If you want to do a dog walk that gets Fido out and gives you a chance to breath fresh air for 30 minutes in the evening or on Saturday morning, if you want to . . . whatever it is you want to do . . . please:

volunteer to 'initiate' an outing
be sure to show up, on time and with any required or suggested gear for things you RSVP for
remember how good your body and mind feel after 30 minutes or more outdoors; and do it more often and do it more often with the WSA.
Feel welcome to call or email me to chat about how easy it is for you to become the initiator of an event or outing. We do not expect you to never have ice climbed and intiate on outing to the Ouray Ice Park, or never have been on downhill skis and put a trip to Copper Mtn on the calendar. However, a fitness walk on Serpents Trail or Liberty Cap, a bike ride through the farm roads of Fruita or Palisade, a geocaching event in the Lunch Loop trails or even downtown GJ. . .

Pick an event that you are comfortable with doing yourself; you need not be an 'expert' for many of these day-to-day type events. To paraphrase the Nike shoe advertisement, "Just put it on the calendar", by contacting me or any of the other organizers who can help you get the necessary information together then get your event posted for others to join in on.

See you outdoors; hopefully real soon!

Doug Van Etten

970-433-4312