Ugh, An Article About Working Out?
I know, it seems like a pretty daunting topic nowadays what with the age of perfect Instagram models and surgeries like the once popular BBL. That’s why I’m here to be your biggest supporter.
You see, working out is more than just aiming for the severely unrealistic body standard set by society (which is really just made up of us as individuals, but that’s a topic for another article). It’s about making sure you are healthy and keeping yourself that way.
It’s about finding confidence in your own body so that the haters’ comments no longer affect you (or any negative comment for that matter, including those coming from family members). It’s about creating a routine you can rely on when the world feels like it’s crumbling from under you.
So please, keep reading to join me as I discuss an almost guaranteed path to self-growth, motivation, and eventual success. And if you feel like I’m spewing a bunch of useless nonsense by the end, feel free to (politely) tell me that in the comment section below. Your opinion means a lot to me, even though it may break my little heart.
Working Out Improves Physical Health
Okay, so this seems like an obvious point, right? You would usually be right, but I’ve found common sense to be way less common than advertised to be. As I said, working out isn’t just about getting that six-pack. It’s more of a means to make sure you retain as much of your young body skills when you are old.
Have you ever seen those videos about 60-year-old men and women breaking world records? Well, I can say with almost complete certainty that they worked their butts off to be able to do such things.
Bodies are prone to growing weaker over time. That’s just a fact of life. To help prevent the need for you to use a walker in the future, you need to be working on your body now. I am not saying that you will never face issues like that, but working on your body now certainly gives you a better chance of avoiding them.
Before I continue, I would like to note that ALL people of ALL ages and backgrounds should be focusing some of their energy on building their physical health. After all, we need more 60-year-old men and women to break those records.
Whether you’re working out to build strength or maintain your weight, you will be-- at the very end of the day-- tending to the health of your body.
Working Out Improves Mental Wellbeing
Many studies show that working out positively affects your mental health. I won’t be discussing that here. I have done way too many college essays to even bother with the MLA format citing and other headaches that come with research papers. Luckily I’ve got enough experience to share why those studies are true.
I used to be anchored to my bed. More than two years ago, I started to only really leave my bed to get food from the kitchen to bring back to my room or for the occasional bathroom break. I would willingly waste full days watching YouTube and other shows or playing video games. During this time my mental health was at its worst.
Luckily for me though, I found a book called The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson. Even though I highly recommend this book to everyone who knows how to read, it is not exactly necessary. The book gave me the confidence I needed to finally get off my butt and do something.
Being sedentary does nothing for you. Getting up does. That’s one of the many helpful lessons I got from reading the book. Manson did a great job explaining that you will not get things done until you get them done.
What do I mean by this? It is oftentimes that the only thing that stops us from wanting to do things is actually starting said things, not the process of working on those things. Give it a try.
Let’s say you really don’t want to go on a walk because-- and the world pretty much agrees to this point-- it’s pretty boring. Well, when you start walking it usually doesn’t feel like much of a chore. It’s when you’re in the comfort of your own bed that you’re dreading the idea of leaving the house.
And that’s really the trick to it. Once you’re up and at em’ you feel pretty unstoppable, like you can actually do anything. And it’s TRUE! You can actually do anything. It’s those pesky thoughts of yours and others that make you feel like you can’t.
That’s why I’m certain that working out is good for both the mind and the body. If you keep making yourself get up, I’m sure you’ll start to feel a bit better about how much you can accomplish just like I did.
I must say that if you have depression like I do or even another mental illness, you’re probably still going to struggle with it. In actuality though, you have to choose whether you let these afflictions get in the way with you taking care of your mind and body.
Even though working out is never a surefire way to get over your mental health issues, I can almost guarantee that neglecting your body is a surefire way to allow your mental health issues to control you. It’s always better to be able to tell your thoughts to f*ck off instead of allowing them to flood your brain with the highlights of your most embarrassing moments.
And even if they do break through the dams in your brain to start flooding your mind, realizing that the thoughts have no actual fists to punch you with helps put a damper on the significance of that illness. Working out has been very helpful in reminding me of that fact, and I hope that helps some of you as well.
Working Out Increases Energy Levels
As mentioned above, getting up and walking often helps you get over the dread of walking in the first place. This is most likely because you’re doing something other than dreading the thought of walking in the comfort of your bed.
Hell, even in my experience I’ve gained more energy by simply putting one foot in front of the other. And if I’ve felt it, I’m certain that at least a small percentage of the other seven billion people in this world feel similarly.
The truth is that most of the “energy” the world says we need comes from within, not from those Instagram models who constantly peddle insane health supplements and unrealistic body standards.
It’s true that if you have certain afflictions that cause fatigue, you may not have the same experience as I did, and that is completely okay. Trying gets you brownie points here at EverybodyLovesLakyra.com! It’s just important that you always try your best and never beat yourself up if you know you have.
Working Out Enhances Self-Confidence
Once you’ve gotten that runner’s high from finally working out after dreading it for so long, you’ll most likely start to feel like the G.O.A.T. And you really are! It’s important to remember that you cannot compare yourself to others. So once you’ve replaced that with comparing the personal records you set on your own, you will start to feel more confident.
This is because you’re focused on your own strengths and weaknesses. By doing this you eliminate the feeling of inadequacy compared to others. How can you if you’re only focusing on beating your previous record? Once you start to focus on your own growth and life, you start to become more confident in yourself.
Comparing yourself to others has long been ingrained into our minds, so no one will judge you if you accidentally continue to do so. But it is important to remember that it is very likely that everyone is comparing themselves to everyone else. If that were a true method to gaining self-confidence then everyone wouldn’t be as miserable as we truly are.
So be different and try focusing on yourself! It’s much better than the insanity that comes with trying to compare yourself to others all the time. Just as the energy comes from you, so will the confidence in yourself.
Putting Your Money Where My Mouth Is
What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to prove me wrong? If you’ve felt like I’ve been spewing a bunch of useless information this whole time, I challenge you to start working out and prove to me how useless the information really was. After you’ve proved me wrong *evil cackle*, go and (respectfully) share your opinions with your fellow readers in the comment section below.
But that’s the end of my spiel for now. And I’m so serious, tell me your thoughts in the comments so I can provide better content for you. For now, though, I’ll leave you with this: Everybody may not like me, but they have no choice but to love me because I’ll always be there for them and accept them for who they are. Now get to work!