
When I tell you I exercise every day - even Christmas, even my birthday, even Sundays, do you want to punch me in the face?
Yeah, same.
That's why I rarely tell anyone because to some people's ears it sounds like: 'I'm better than someone who exercises less than me'.
I'm not.
I exercise because I have to. It's a way to manage my anxiety specifically and my mental health more generally.
Watch: The horoscopes and self-care. Post continues below.
And for a long, long time, years before I was diagnosed with anxiety and learned that exercise can be helpful in treating it, I exercised most days.
I realise now that I was subconsciously treating a condition I didn't even know I had.
There are so many feeeelings that we entangle with exercise, as women. Guilt and shame and self-judgement and dread.
All whisked through the body image soup in which we marinate.
There have been times in my life when I've felt tortured by exercise. Am I doing it often enough? For long enough? Am I doing the right type? Should I invest in a trainer? Go to a boot camp? Join a gym? Should I do what she's doing?
It can feel fraught and like you're failing before you start.
My daily exercise doesn't make me feel anything anymore, though. It's something I do not even think about ever.
And that's my trick - if there is one. I don't think about it. I just do it. Not in a Nike YOU GO GIRL way.
It's simply... non-negotiable.
By doing it every day, I have perversely set myself free.
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