National Get Up Day

Just like figure skaters, everyone in life will fall down at some time or another. So while it might feel tempting to just stay down, National Get Up Day is here to bring inspiration and encouragement to get back up on those feet and try again.

The National Get Up campaign embraces the idea of being fearless even in the face of falling down, which certainly comes as a vital part of ice skating – whether it’s a person’s first time on skates or professionals are learning to spin and turn!

National Get Up Day is celebrated during the dark and cold months of winter, which perhaps works well as a reminder for those who struggle with some winter blues or full-on seasonal affective disorder (SAD) that it’s best to just get up again whenever things are feeling down!

How to Celebrate National Get Up Day

Check out some of these ideas for getting involved with the observance and celebration of National Get Up Day:

Get Up

First things first! The biggest piece of celebrating National Get Up Day is to be able to do just that: get up. Whether it’s getting up out of bed to start the day, getting up out of that chair and going for a lunchtime walk (after staring at a computer for hours), or getting off the couch and doing something fun with the kids.

Hoping to start a new workout program or get into a new hobby, but it sounds a little difficult? The first thing to do is get up! Sometimes simple things can feel really big, but when broken down into smaller parts they are much easier. So the first thing at the top of any list of starting a new project or meeting a goal may just be these two simple but very important words: “Get Up!”

Engage with Inspirational Stories

In celebration of National Get Up Day, it might be enjoyable and encouraging to learn more about some folks who have overcome incredible odds and gotten back up from difficult circumstances in their lives. This could perhaps be in the form of reading a biography or watching a film based on a true story of someone who has been able to “get up”.

Consider some of these interesting films that are based on the stories of folks who have faced difficult situations and managed to make the decision to get back on their feet and try again:

• The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). This film tells the story of Chris Gardner who was a salesman in San Francisco desperately trying to make his way in the world for himself and his son. Though the two are homeless at one point, Gardner continues to get back up and eventually makes a breakthrough.
• Breathe (2017). This moving film stars Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, telling the true tale of a man who contracts polio at age 28 and has to figure out how to, literally and figuratively, get back up again and start living – and then help others to get up too.
• Soul Surfer (2011). When surfer Bethany Hamilton is attacked by a shark and loses her left arm, she has to choose whether to give up or get back out there, live her life, and start surfing again.
• Hotel Rwanda (2004). Starring Don Cheadle, this movie is based on the events surrounding the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994, when a hotel manager helps more than one thousand Tutsi refugees during a communal war.

Help Someone Else “Get Up”

Part of the reality of living in a world with other people is that we don’t have to make it all on our own! For those who are in a good place in their lives, National Get Up Day is a great opportunity to consider others who might need some help. Whether it is a friend who might benefit from a card or a letter, a coworker who might appreciate a word of encouragement, a family member who needs a hug, this is a perfect time to give someone else a bit of a boost. Reach out to someone who has perhaps seemed a little down and remind them of the things that you appreciate about them, show them some support or just offer to buy them a cup of coffee and listen to how their day is going!

Volunteer in the Community

To spread the love a little further out into the community, National Get Up Day might be an ideal time to sign up to volunteer for a charitable organization or project that lends others a helping hand. This could be something like a volunteer at a senior center to literally help older people with getting up out of their chairs and participating in activities, or it might be something more figurative like tutoring underserved kids to help them get up and ahead in their academic progress.

History of National Get Up Day

The origins of this day can be traced back to 2016 when the US Figure Skating Association developed the campaign with the theme “We all fall. It’s how we get up that matters.” The next year, National Get Up Day became a part of the fabric of the figure skating world as well as making its way into the general public. And by 2018, National Get Up Day was growing in popularity and was even celebrated just before the Winter Games held in South Korea.

Part of the concept for the Get Up campaign may have been inspired by the famous American figure skater and 1984 Olympic Gold medalist, Scott Hamilton. In an interview, Hamilton once mentioned that he had calculated how many times he had fallen down during skating, and the number he came up with was around 41,600 times.

But the most remarkable thing is that this figure means Hamilton also got up 41,600 times. Not only that, but he’s also a four time cancer survivor – which certainly must be much more difficult to get up from than simply from an ice skating fall.