What exercise means to me

Hello!

In the face of lots of things going on work-wise (some changes, some new options within my profession), it can get a little overwhelming at times. Sometimes I fail to maintain a lot of my habits. One consistent habit though, is exercise. 2 times a week I weightlift in my workplace gym, usually after my early morning shift. 6 months since then have flown by fast.

Today was a particularly stressful workday, as naturally happens every now and then. I wanted nothing more than to go home, instead I went to my locker and changed to my workout clothes. From that point it was all practiced motions down the stairs to fill up my water bottle and hit the weights. There’s always a set of clothes ready at work lest I spontaneously decide I’m up for it (or need extra motivation when I’m not). Like many times before, it came in really handy.

The process got me thinking of the mental effects. There are people who say that it’s a relief for the blues, and also people saying it doesn’t help them at all. We are all different and complex, so it differentiates from person to person. I personally group into people to whom intense physical exercise feels therapeutic. But I never really worked out the nuances why exactly it’s a therapeutic comfort when I’m stressed. Goals are one thing, yes, that’s my overall staple, but there’s more.

If things feel out of control or chaotic, going though my workout regime makes me think ‘at least I have this under control‘. It centers me and makes me feel less gloomy when I need it. Gives me some positive reinforcement through the push, knowing I’m doing my best here, thus I can do good somewhere else too.

Usually post-workout I feel relaxed and slightly in a daze from the effort, probably some happy-hormones or something, not exactly sure. I have met two people in my life who have said that they don’t feel any gratification from physical exercise, only uncomfortably sick and fatigued. It’s strange to me, but by far not unheard of.

All in all, I’ll probably spend some time trying to unpack the reasons why people have such different perceptions.

For now thank you for reading and have a Great day!

-Ann

Listening to: Mötley Crüe – Take me to the top