Self Care Post of the Week – Movement

*I want to start these self care posts by saying that I’m not a professional. I’m just someone who suffers from both anxiety and depression. These are all things that I personally do that help me either physically, mentally or both. What works for me may not work for you – so take these ideas as a stepping stone to figure out what resonates with and helps you. Something I DO know is the more consistent I am in focusing on various self care things for myself, the better I feel. As I write these, they will be added to the Self Care page so they can be easily found and not jumbled in with all the blog posts.

Yes, when I say movement, I mean moving my body. It really helps in a multitude of ways. Of course, it’s great for your heart, muscles, bones and flexibility but it also helps with sleep and wearing you out, it feels good in your head that you did something you know is good for you and has been known to help with anxiety, depression, stress and self esteem. I know I could use all the help I can get in every single one of those! 

Sometimes I find it hard to find that motivation to get up and do it, but every single time I do – I always feel better. Movement can really be anything that gets you up out of your chair or bed. Don’t forget to do some stretching first! Here’s some ideas of things that I incorporate:

-going for a walk
-doing a work out video (I usually turn to YouTube for these – there are many different ones you can try. HIIT, yoga, low impact, body part specific that you can rotate (eg abs, legs, arms, cardio), no equipment and more)
-playing a moving video game (Ring Fit Adventure, Wii Fit, Dance Dance Revolution)
-dance in your living room
-do some gardening/snow shoveling
-sweep and mop your floors
-go swimming
-go up and down the stairs a few times
-do a plank/push-up/crunch/squat challenge where you try and slowly build up how many you can do or how long you can hold it
-get off the bus a stop early and walk or park your car at a far spot in the parking lot

Some things that sound fun that I’ve heard others do, but I don’t personally do:
-play tag or frisbee with your kids
-challenge yourself to do x when y happens (every commercial in a program you’re watching, between each YouTube video you watch, whenever you die in a game… you can do 10 crunches, 10 squats, 5 push ups, 10 jumping jacks or whatever)
-go for a bike ride
-use home equipment (weights, stationary bike, treadmill, etc)
-go to the gym

Take reading this blog post as a cue to stop what you’re doing and move your body for a bit before going on to more reading! 

Until next time, xoxo