PsychSense: Sensible Psychological Solutions

In an earlier post I wrote about innoculating yourself against stress with exercise and other techniques. Well, if you are like me, statements like the one above annoy you and make you feel kind of helpless. In response, I usually tell myself, “I will never be able to stick with an exercise program”. My history confirms this belief, if I last a month on any exercise program I have done very well. Ok, so how will I ever get enough exercse? Well truthfully, maybe I never will, but I have found something ( a mindset really) that seems to help me get some exercise. It starts with getting rid of the word program (its kind of like the word diet)! When the reports started to surface indicating that minutes of exercise could be cumulative I started to feel some hope. I told myself I could do almost anything for a minute or 5!

So now whenever I think of exercising I do something right then, right on the spot! No matter how small, it usually lasts for 1-3 minutes. I might take a few extra steps, do some knee bends, stretches, climb a flight of stairs etc. I don’t think about it, I just do it when the idea hits. If I am driving I do stomach tightning or side neck bends. Sometimes I do these mini-exercises 5 or 7 times a day. Now this might not sound like much to you, but it is a big deal for me! I am finding that I think about it more often and my mini exercise numbers are increasing. I also don’t feel annoyed or put out by it. I actually seem to enjoy it. I feel like I am on to something for me.

So if you enjoy exercise, good for you, keep it up! Exercise is good to both release and prevent stress. If you are like me however, and can’t seem to exercise , maybe my thoughts will give you some ideas that will work for you. Good luck.