Saturday, September 08, 2007

What goes up... is asking for it, really. Shouldn't piss off Gravity like that.


Seems inevitable that a high point will be followed by a plunge. Family issues, work stresses, watching my sick dog suffer, anything and everything have combined to really get me down right now.



What's surprising is how I'm dealing with the depression. Usually feeling this blue is a cue to reach for the comfort foods, or grab a glass of wine, or curl up in bed with the covers over my head -- basically to turn my back on life. I have spent years conditioning my body to demand this kind of behavior when I'm feeling depressed.


This morning I did none of those things.



Instead, I reached for an aerobics video and dealt with the blues by working out. The problems haven't gone away, but my attitude towards them has modified. That was what I was trying to achieve with the food/wine/avoidance too, but this time I feel better about myself, and I think the results might last longer. We'll see.




I'm rather surprised that this was my first inclination, rather than the usual comfort-seeking tactics. I haven't been working out all that long, about six weeks, but it's encouraging to think that even this level of exercise is enough to start to change the body's conditioned response.

Unless I'm reading too much into this.


Note: the cool picture up top is from Flickr

7 comments:

Keziah Fenton said...

Yay Mary!!!
And warm loving hugs for the things that have plunged you over the edge to fitness(((((Mary)))))

The Merry said...

Thanks Sheryl!
It's really nice to hang around with positive supportive people, especially at times like this.

H said...

exercise is the shiznit for dealing with depression...

It's to the point now, that I was depressed (and perhaps a little needy) last night, and my fiancee woke me up early and sent me out for a ten mile run. :D

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said...

Hang in there and keep dancing, girl. That's an excellent choice that your mind made for you. It's taking very good care of you.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

This is a lesson I learned a bunch of years ago. Keep at the exercise stuff and you'll discover that you don't even GET as blue as you used to.

Pretty cool, huh?

The Merry said...

Well, sometimes you're going to feel sad no matter what. But for those "just feeling down for no reason" type of moods, I agree. Exercise is the way to go.

Crabby McSlacker said...

Good for you! It's great to discover there are healthy ways of taking care of yourself.