Day: March 6, 2016

Not A Bad Week!

I am so proud of myself this past week! I was able to push myself to do my online assignment on time! I’m telling you it’s been very hard on me late to focus on my assignments. And I can’t afford to loose my good grades. I guess what has helped was exercising and taking my meds on time. I have been noting in my daily pill case, I have been behind in some of my medications, especially my anxiety medication. Geez.

Then today I went back to my old kung fu class and honestly, it was awesome! I use to go there when I was an undergraduate back in college. I enjoyed learning new techniques and made friends. Unfortunately due to family events and though unknown to me at the time, my mental illness, I stopped and including the people I used to talk to. I was distancing myself.

Now…since I have got my diagnosis and begun my recovery process, I was able to see them and attend the class! Not to mention, it was nice to be around people learning the same thing and having people coach me how to learn something new. To be honest, I could use that. Usually, I am great with training myself, by myself. But as of late, it has been very hard to be motivated and stay motivated. I don’t even work in the gym anymore! I lose interest, not ’cause I am not interested, but I am overwhelmed by thoughts and well…depressed.

What’s great about working in a gym class, such as my kung fu class, is that you have a master or a coach guiding you how to get through a technique, you have people around you;and they are learning as you are no matter what level of experience, your mind isn’t caught up in the feelings of unwarranted thoughts and feelings of depressions; you’re trying to learn techniques and master eye-hand coordination. It was awesome! I forgot this feeling of rejuvenation from learning new techniques and staying in shape in the same time! That could be another reason why I haven’t been in the gym for awhile. I like to be challenged and learn new things. I remember when  I was in track during high school,  my track coach would always teach us new things and help us advance our speed.

I will see if I can keep this up,  even if I am tired (because of depression) I will push myself  to continue to take this class.

Gym classes aren’t too bad. Just like you need people to help to aide you while you recover from your mental illness, sometimes you may need people to inspire you to keep exercising and stay in shape. For example if it weren’t for my brother encouraging me to walk for at least 30 minutes a day, I wouldn’t.  Yes at least 30 minutes a day. I know it’s not an hour and trust me, I felt bad too (an additional reason why I haven’t been exercising), but once you do it, it’s great and what’s better is you feel great too!

Now on the bottom is an infograph on the benefits of exercise.  Check it out:

 

 

The Mental and Physical Benefits Martial Arts

As I mentioned in my journal entry learning martial arts was a great way of alleviating anxiety and depression. Instead of focusing on my symptoms, I was focusing on learning the techniques in the classroom. And when I came back from it, I was better focused and relieved. Lastly, lastly it was a great way to force myself around people and meet new people. ‘Cause trust me, when dealing with depression there are times you don’t want to see or meet anyone.

Now I am not saying the martial arts is the only way you can reduce anxiety, depression or any other mental health disorders because there are many other sports activities out there you may be interested in. The point is to get out there take part of some recreational activity that you will or use to enjoy. However…if you are thinking of learning something new and/or want a new challenge learn a martial art. Give a shot.  Below is an infographic demonstrating the mental and physical fits of martial arts:why-train-martial-arts5