I’ve always found that when I’m feeling down – there’s only one thing left for me to do….and that’s get up! Literally.
There’s something very helpful, mentally and emotionally, about exercising. It lifts your spirits, your mood, your outlook and (as a bonus) rewards you with better health. I’ve told the story before, on this blog, of how a job offer for my husband led my family to move FROM a beach house on Pensacola Beach TO Earlington, Kentucky (Find that on a map!) I won’t even go into how down I was – I missed the dolphins, seagulls, stingrays, waves, shells, seafood, and most of all the pelicans. Even though we are Kentuckians, and we were actually just coming home - It was one of the lowest points of my life.
Sitting around thinking and looking at pictures certainly wasn’t the answer! I started walking twice a day and my daughters and I took up tennis. It wasn’t long before Iwas my normal self again. The increased activity pulled me out of my funk and allowed me to look around at just how awesome Kentucky is. Even if there aren’t any pelicans.
I also dropped two sizes!
Yesterday I read an article that made me think about all of that – it’s about Depression/Anxiety and Exercise. It tells how exercise can ease the symptoms of depression. Now, I don’t think for a minute that I was full-blown depressed. I’ve seen people who are suffering from depression, and I was nowhere near there. I just had a bad case of the Beach Blues – but the fact is that exercise helped me “ride out” the wave….er, so to speak.
If you’re down, depressed, worried, anxious, or stressed – give exercise a try. Take up walking, golf, tennis, swimming, or aerobics. OR, just turn the music up loud and dance around the house for 30 minutes each day. Start today, continue tomorrow, and keep after it for a couple of weeks. By then, you’ll feel so much better you won’t ever want to stop. Exercise releases the “feel goods” and they’re addictive. Personally, I think that’s one of the reasons people get what we call the “Winter Blues” – not only is the lack of sunlight a factor, but the lack of activity as well.
This is when blasting your favorite music and dancing for your cat should come into play. My cats are partial to Def Leppard – they’re all about the rock and addicted to the roll.
Make each move count double!
~Joi
technorati tags: exercise, mentalfitness, endorphins, fitness, stress, anxiety, depression, blues
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