Taking Care of the Crazy

I’m almost afraid to say anything for fear I’ll jinx myself, but I’ve been getting regular exercise for the past 4 months and I feel so good. I don’t plan on stopping. Thinking about my life, I’ve only ever had pockets of exercise. I’ve done really well for a period of time and then stopped. Like my friend and I used to go run at the track at the high school (ha ha ok it was walk/run stuff), I completed 12 weeks of the PiYo program and actually saw results, I walked and hiked a ton to get ready for the trek to Machu Picchu. Then for whatever reason, I stopped. I live in a great place to walk so I always got some exercise, but not regular or consistent.

Last November I think the pandemic finally got to me. I couldn’t deal with the stress and sleepless nights any more. The anxiety was killing me. So I dug out my old DVDs of Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home program and started walking at home. They aren’t hard and I do sweat but they aren’t super sweat inducers or super high intensity. For the first time in my life I didn’t start exercising to lose weight. I did it to get rid of the crazy. And you know what? My anxiety dropped almost overnight. My sleepless nights took a bit longer to get rid of and sometimes I still have problems falling asleep, which honestly, could just be because of age. I feel so much better. It hasn’t been perfect and there are days when I just don’t care but one bad day doesn’t make a bad week. I started where I was and didn’t make any demands on myself except that I try because it was helping with the anxiety. Now I actually signed up for Walk at Home streaming to my tv and one other program to my iPad. With spring coming, I’ve even gotten outside to walk a few times. I still don’t really love exercise and I’m probably never going to be an early morning exerciser and I’m letting myself be ok with that. What I do love is that I feel better and I’m dealing with my anxiety in a healthy way.