Running for Mental Health
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I had no idea when I started running that it was going to drastically improve my mental health and self esteem. When I started running I actually hated every single minute of it. I kept showing up though. If I hadn’t committed to a friend, doing that first half marathon, I most likely wouldn’t have kept coming back. I wanted to make sure I followed through on my word.
Through that training I realized I was more capable of things than I had allowed in my life. As much as I hated it, it was giving me access to a power within that was so good for my self-esteem.
For the first four years I continued to show up. I continued to sign up for races and train. My mind would still play tricks on me. My mind would still have negative self-talk but I continued to show up anyways.
It didn’t dawn on me to train my mind until I had taken a year off of running due to an injury. During that time that I was injured I went deep into meditation and journaling. I started a facebook running page because I still wanted to be connecting to running.
On this part of my journey is when I dug up old teachings I had learned from the past. Formerly I had worked with a sports psychologist to train my mind for another fitness event. Why had I never considered bringing that type of training into my half marathon training never had crossed my mind.
When I started to come back from injury I put a mental training practice in place along with my running schedule and cross-training plan. This completely changed my relationship to running. Where I once used to struggle, now I was finding enjoyment. Where the negative self-talk used to show up, now I had a practice to assist me.
Mental health is just as important as physical health. If we do not work on our minds as much as our bodies, we will hit blocks. These blocks can show up whenever we are scared, whenever old programming gets a hold of us. It can happen when we take on a new endeavor, new career, relationship, etc.
Running for my mental health was the gateway to improving my mental health in multiple areas of my life. I am now so passionate about assisting others in finding peace of mind on their runs so that that level of consciousness can expand into multiple areas of their lives.
To learn more about my upcoming 30 day Mindset for Runners course, click on the link below.
