Hello Friends!
How weird is the English language? I mean seriously, I feel bad for those who have to learn English as a second language. Love and Move look like words that should rhyme, but they don’t.
It’s not loooohve to move or love to muhve…
Okay that was not the point of this post. The point was to say that exercise has seriously been curing me lately.
(PS the pictures you see are new workout gear I got for myself since I seem to be living in the clothes lately…3 days a week I’m in two sets of it! Also I got the one pair of Asics that come in my super weird size this year. And they are bright purple and awesome…because now I have purple things to match. And now I realize that a trend is miss-matching bright colors. The things I learn in college!)
School has gotten me all kinds of anxious…from the workload to the thousands of 18-year olds walking around making me feel old, but I’m thankful I signed up for a cardio training class for credit…which means I have to go to a class where I’m forced to workout three days a week. Saving my life!
But class was cancelled Friday…the day I got the news that I did HORRIBLY on my first Chemistry exam. The mean of the class (the grade most students got) was a 71%. I did a little worse than that. Ugh. Ruined the rest of my day, despite all of the anti-anxiety techniques I was using like deep breathing, positive thinking and prayer.
I have a friend in my cardio training class who also happens to be a dietetics student. She also happens to take the same Chemistry class that I do and sadly did poorly on the test as well. As we were griping over text we realized that we really could have used a workout that morning.
I actually felt like I could run 10 miles out of frustration at school and my life that day (because when one thing goes wrong I kind of tend to re-evaluate my whole life…yeah, I know, not the best thing to do). But since I had no workout clothes on me, I had to drive the hour home with a racing brain and no way to get the pent-up energy out. By the time I got home I was actually exhausted from the stress and couldn’t really do anything but sit on the couch. Bleh.
I continued to feel bleh and stressed and cranky until Saturday night I decided that I was going to workout after I was done with homework. Seriously, my mood improved. It may have been partly because I knew I was going to get to watch Scrubs on Netflix as I did so, but really, I was quite a productive student for about 3 hours.
Then I worked up a sweat on Daddio’s treadclimber, lifted a few light weights, did some amazing stretching…and felt on top of the world.
I told my friends on Dailymile I worked out and it felt awesome. I showered and felt so good about..everything. How awesome is that?
I’ve always dealt with depression and anxiety. I think it runs in the family. It has gotten so bad that I landed myself in the hospital once. I don’t really talk about it because part of me wants to pretend that it didn’t happen and another part of me feels like I am past that deeply depressed and anxious side of my life. But believe me, it can get bad.
If you are a person that gets depressed and anxious, I encourage you to seek help, if you haven’t already. The first step might just be talking to someone sympathetic about it. Or journaling on a super secret blog that you don’t tell anyone about. Writing it out can make you feel loads better!
Something else that can help is exercising and adding more veggies (and other healthy foods) into your life. I do notice that when I am eating well and working out to the point of sweating that I can focus better, am happier, feel better about my body and all around have a better outlook on life. This also makes me a more productive student.
So for those of you who feel like you don’t have time to workout or eat right, I can’t stress enough how much doing these things has helped me! In my opinion, we can’t afford NOT to exercise. We’re not even talking about major health concerns here…just about feeling better on a day-to-day basis.
(From now on, if I seem a little crabby, feel free to ask me when the last time was that I had a good workout. I am willing to bet it has been a few days…)
So get out there and MOVE! And LOVE it!! 🙂
Amanda aka Semi-Health Nut
What’s your favorite way to move?
What’s your favorite thing about exercising?
“because when one thing goes wrong I kind of tend to re-evaluate my whole life…yeah, I know, not the best thing to do” Oh gosh. I thought I was the only one who does this! Someone could cut me off in traffic and I’ll think “Gosh, why do I live here?” It’s crazy-talk!
Depression and anxiety runs heavily in my family (immediate, extended…), so I work really hard to make sure that I take care of myself in case I have to face it as well. And there have been times that I do feel a bit more down than others. It’s a scary feeling and I appreciate that you are open enough to talk about it, because most people do not – they feel that it’s their fault.
But exercise and eating do play such an important role! Nothing makes me feel better than a day with a great workout and some clean eating. Not only is is healthy for the body, but also for the soul.
So glad you can relate!! It really is important to be able to identify these tendencies and know what we can do to get ourselves out of that negative self-talk funk!
Ahhh! Nothing like a good sweat sesh to let out all those pent up emotions! I always visualize the stress running off me in the little drops of sweat! And I swear…I’ve had some of the BEST workouts when I’ve gone in feeling upset/crank! Amazing what a little endorphin rush can do for us, huh?
Oh I agree! Angry workouts ftw! 😉
I freaking heart you roomie!! I was feeling a little sorry for myself this morning and was thinking of neglecting my long run, clearly you saw on Daily Mile that I busted out my 4 miles with great time. And I feel a bit better too! Exercise is really such an amazing thing. And remember you can reach out to me anytime you need a little vent!
🙂 I heart you too friend! <3
So glad you can relate!! It really is important to be able to identify these tendencies and know what we can do to get ourselves out of that negative self-talk funk!
Oh I agree! Angry workouts ftw! 😉
My favorite way to move is SWIMMING!! 🙂 My favorite thing about exercising is… nothing! ha! ok well all of the benefits I like equally. I really like this post since it has many things I like such as PURPLE and watching Scrubs on Netflix… I only started watching that show with a friend last year and it cracked me up!! Now THAT is also some good stress release 🙂
haha yes Scrubs is awesome. I love starting at the beginning of a tv series on netflix and go all the way through…Scrubs is my current show. Nothing like JD and Turk making me laugh after a long day of Chemistry at school! 😉
I’m happy to see you strong, intelligent women discovering this early on. It will continue to serve you well through marriage, children, home purchases, career changes, etc, etc. As I watch my peer group push closer to 40, it’s quite apparent how we cope. There seems to be 3 distinct ways: retail, food, and exercise. Two of those can be quite distructive! Kiddos to you!!