Reasons to Work Out, Part 2

I already told one story of why I work out here. But like every complex and obsessive action, there is more than one reason. 

At some point in the last few years, fitness people started talking about “finding your why.” This idea is to connect your reason for running or whatever you athletic endeavor to something deeper, some intrinsic motivator. It started as a genuinely good piece of advice: have a well to pull from when you want to quit or when you don’t want to even start some days. But then it became cliche, a tactic, used by influencers to fuel click-bait-y posts, as is the way of social media. I’m resentful of this, turning a useful motivator into some that makes me roll my eyes and scroll on.

However.

I’m willing to approach the idea with an open mind if you are. Let’s call it something else. Let’s call them “Reasons.”

I think back to after our second son was born. He was 4 days late - 4 extra days of stress tacked onto a stress-filled pregnancy. I had been in really good shape prior to getting pregnant, but I stopped exercising almost entirely as soon as I found out I was expecting, preferring to wrap myself in bubble wrap and wallow in worry following 2 miscarriages, one occurring at 16 weeks. As soon as Ben was on the outside, I started counting down the days until I could work out again. I think I made it 4 weeks.

A few months later, Covid descended upon us. We had a 5 month old and a 3 year old, and our house felt claustrophobic. I ran almost every day. Sometimes it was the only reason I had for leaving.

We had like 5 minutes after Covid restrictions eased up before the little one was diagnosed with leukemia. We went back into our own lockdown, now needing to protect our newly immuno-compromised cancer kid. Again, I had to breathe in a space that wasn’t our house for a while.

I see now what I was doing instinctively through all of that. Running, for me, all exercise really, is a way to both connect to my body and get out of my head. It’s probably a no-brainer that exercise leads to stress relief, but what is actually HAPPENING, what brings about that relief, is connecting movement to thought and thought to movement. It slows the brain, calms the cycle of stress-spiraling and replicates “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing” (EMDR) therapy. Plus, a person has to focus on breathing while running or exercising, something that yoga and meditation have been preaching for years.

So that’s it. That’s my biggest reason. Stress relief at its most basic level. I didn’t even recognize I had been doing it until I stopped. I went from waking up early to exercise every day to deciding sleep was more important and often skipping or pushing back my workouts. I was meaner. I was snappier. I didn’t make the connection until recently when I started working out early again. Working to find the balance is worth it because my brain is happier.

As always, I’m not telling you what to do - not because I don’t care but because I don’t like being told what to do myself. But I will say that the benefits I’ve felt in my brain, maybe even more than in my body, make consistent exercise worthwhile. Give it a try.