Everyone's Taking the 22-Pushup Challenge to Raise Awareness About Veterans' Mental Health
On the heels of the news that the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge was actually effective at raising awareness and research money for the neurodegenerative disease known as ALS, a new challenge is popping up on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: It's the #22PushupChallenge, and celebs are already jumping on it.
In response to an organization called 22Kill, which is looking to rack up 22 million push-ups to raise awareness about the 22 veterans who die by suicide every single day, people all over the world are posting videos of themselves performing push-ups - a worthy purpose with a solid payoff: 💪 .
Raising Mental Health awareness by completing the #22PushupChallenge @CombatStress @VETERANSCHARITY #OneTeam pic.twitter.com/2yTUWsirsx
- 1 CS Battalion REME (@1CSBnREME) August 5, 2016
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has joined the #22PushUpChallenge pic.twitter.com/dp6i5Ar58V
- BBC News England (@BBCEngland) August 12, 2016
Some people are committing to do 22 push-ups every day for 22 days - the #22PushupChallenge - then nominating three friends to participate too.
If you want to take part in the challenge but can't perform a real push-up to save your own life, try a modified push-up against a wall, or use this guide to learn how to master a proper push-up. (FWIW, 22Kill's original challenge calls for as many push-ups as you can perform, so no sweat if you can only do a couple.)
Tally the number of push-ups you've completed in your video so 22Kill can count them (i.e., "#10Pushups for #22Kill") - and make sure you're spreading the message about where veterans and active-duty service members can get help: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) is a good place to begin, or you can hit up StopSoldierSuicide.org for more resources.
