One of the biggest detriments to a fitness routine is depression. It can easily knock you off course and make it difficult to get back on track. Yet exercise can actually help with depression.
Last week was an incredibly difficult one week for our family. We went through a situation that made fighting off depression very challenging. Needless to say I stopped exercising. I just had no energy to get up and move.
Yet the reality is that when we are feeling this way, it is the best time to exercise. It can relieve some of those symptoms of depression. So how do you get through a time like this?
It helps if you have someone who can motivate you. My husband encouraged me a couple of times last week to take a walk with him, something we do on a regular basis. I did turn him down but I appreciated that he tried.
He reminded me that I would feel better…but I was still wallowing in my sadness, not willing to try it. Actually, it might have been that I was feeling more comfortable in my depression than I cared to admit.
That can be a real obstacle, if you would rather stay unhappy. So if you don’t have someone to motivate you or it isn’t working, then you have to muster up the ability to at least start off slow.
Depending on where you are at, it maybe you can’t even get out of bed. Thankfully I wasn’t to that state but if that is where you are, begin with bringing yourself to the edge of your bed and sitting up. It’s not much but the real point is that it is something.
If you can then get yourself up and out of bed, moving about, even if it’s just putzing around the house you are at least doing something. Something is better than nothing.
You may not be quite to this point. It could be that despite your depression, you are able to carry on fairly normally. If that is the case, then maybe take a walk down the block. You might be surprised at how some fresh air and a short distance walk can rejuvenate you.
What I did was on Mother’s Day, I had spent most of it relaxing. But then I suddenly decided I didn’t like how dirty our car was, so my plan was to wash the outside. Well before you knew it, I was so into it that I ended up cleaning the inside.
The whole project took me an hour. And guess what? I actually felt better. That was just what I needed to get back on track with my exercise routine Monday morning.
It is hard to pull yourself together when you are feeling down. But I guarantee you that if you can do it, take just one step; you will feel a whole lot better.
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Something Is Better Than Nothing
Photo by Seeding-Chaos in Flickr