Self-care Tip #9 – Exercise

Now, this is an easy one. I don’t even need to look into whether exercise helps when you’re feeling bad, I can use my own experience. It positively, absolutely does.

And as someone who ambivalent/hostile at the thought of exercise, it does pain me to admit.

An intensely crappy, work was really long, I was stuck in traffic for nearly an hour which meant I was stuck in my own head for nearly an hour and that’s not always a fun place to be, and now my back is really sore because I as slumped in a ‘I don’t care about anything anymore, let alone decent posture’ day can be changed around if I go for a walk.  Before I go inside after peeling myself out of the car and attempting to stand upright without unpleasant muscle spasms I try to go around the block, and my mood does lift. I may collapse on the couch as soon as I’m done, but for those few minutes while walking in the fresh air, sometimes watching the sun set, things seem lighter.

This is going on my list of self-care acts that work for me, 100%. Albeit reluctantly.

On a slight side note, I’m particularly interested in what effect exercise has on depression. Is it ‘exercise is good for you’ or more like ‘this can help immensely, and these are the reasons why’? Because if I’m going to be sweating and exercising, it for darn sure better be useful. Apart from the whole ‘general health and wellbeing’ thing, I mean.

(I feel like I’m using a lot of ‘ ’ today, #sorrynotsorry. They’re just very useful!)

Now I’ve annoyingly inspired myself, and am going to go for a walk *insert unimpressed emoji* May your day also end on a high note x