Running Saved My Life!
It turns out that running is actually a very simple exercise. It doesn’t really require any equipment except for a good pair of sneakers and maybe some headphones. You can do it alone or with others. Running can be done anywhere and you choose your own course. The ease of this sport, or conditioning, has several benefits, but the biggest benefit of running for me is that it is cheaper than therapy. I enjoyed running as a kid, but once I became a teenager, I got bored with it. It wasn’t until a few years ago I went through a difficult time in my life where I suffered from depression, severe anxiety and had frequent panic attacks. I had turned to smoking (and I mean chain smoking) cigarettes and drinking lots of wine. Then one day I just woke up and decided to try something different, so I went for a run. That one day, led to 2 days, 3 days, until it became just what I did.
Where I live, there are lots of hills and the smoking habit made getting up them difficult, so it was easy for me to give that up. The effects of the wine drinking caused sluggishness, so I gave that up too. I just started listening to my body on what ‘it’ needed to get better, faster and could go longer. Quickly, I became an everyday, sometime twice a day, runner. Not only did I become more in shape, but my anxiety, depression, and panic attacks were no longer in existence. Running, literally saved my life. It made me become aware of the effects of my bad choices (smoking, over-drinking) were doing to my body and the time to myself cleared my mind. I was no longer depressed anymore.
It isn’t about being physically fit that changes you, it’s getting physically fit where the change happens. If you find yourself in a situation where you are down, find something you enjoy that works for you and do it. You will thank yourself. For me, it just turned out running was actually a very simple exercise.