Unexpected Blessings

If you're one of my regular blog readers or if you're a friend on Facebook, you know I've been going really hard with my exercising since the beginning of the year.

No, I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, but I did join a 90 day fitness challenge group that commenced on January 1st. I joined the group because I wanted to be more disciplined with my fitness, I wanted to keep myself busy, I wanted to lose 9lbs, and I wanted to help encourage other people.

So far, I've become a lot more disciplined that I was in the past, I've been very busy exercising, I've lost about 6lbs, and I've become a cheerleader for a lot of folks. Along with the intended benefits, I've also become less stressed and less anxious as a result of working out so much.

I've suffered with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for over 6 years, and one of my symptoms has always been panic attacks. I'm proud/ecstatic/blessed to say that I haven't had a panic attack this year. The only thing that really changed in my life was the amount of time I've dedicated to exercising. So I put two and two together and realized that exercise has really improved my mental well-being.

In my volunteer training courses for Durham Crisis Response Center we talk a lot about self care. One way to care for one's self is to exercise. I hear a lot of stories about real domestic violence and sexual assault cases during training, and as a survivor I have to be careful that I'm not triggered by the things I hear. Exercising has really helped me deal with hearing the stories without letting them negatively impact my well-being.

Exercising rocks!