Forget all that “new year, new you” talk. Begone, expensive gym memberships, restrictive diets and fancy protein powders. Forget about making a resolution and beating yourself up for breaking it a few weeks later. This January, John Annis just wants you to get outside for a few minutes every day.
Annis, a retired Marine and senior advisor at the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, created the Facebook group “You Said You Would” in 2021 so he and a small group of friends could be accountable to each other about their exercise goals, many of which included outdoor activities like biking, running or walking. The only requirement: a post with a photo of their time outside as a receipt.
But as word got around about the nonjudgmental nature of the group—and the effects it was having on members’ mental and physical health—more and more people began joining. Today, “You Said You Would” has more than 1,200 members, ranging from retirees to corporate bigwigs to artists, teachers and more. Some people share a photo daily and some post much more infrequently, but every post is met with a supportive comment from multiple group members…