I have been VERY busy doing things for different organizations, mainly mental and physical health. At the gym this morning, I saw a senior citizen fitness class. A man showed me how he was walking better with a cane. These things made me elated. A man next to me was lifting heavy weights, but I couldn’t help but be enamored by people with canes and walkers working out, walking slowly in a circle in an adjoining room. A friend told me of a young man with a prosthetic leg on a swim team a few months ago..another friend exercises despite having arthritis. Things are not just physical, I know for myself and MANY people, it’s VERY hard to do anything,even the mundane. Or see light when all you want to do is disappear into the black. The people that go to the gym when they do not need to, who participate in life when it’s unfathomable; they are the ones who give me strength and hope. Personally.
Mental: Be the best YOU. Not compared to social constructs or what you see and read and feel you “should” be. An example: one has the notion you can never be too rich or too skinny. They keep losing weight; it is never enough, eventually they end up in the hospital psych ward; the illusion almost killed them. Then they realize they have the world at their fingertips financially, but all the money in the world cannot buy happiness; disillusioned, they shirk life. Happiness is not tangible; no weight,no chemical, no money can replace it. Be happy with you, not compared to others.
Physical: Just do it! Everyone has to start at point A. You should not be embarassed. No person has the power to make you feel that way. No one starts out wonderful,don’t feel like you should. Do it for your heart, your metabolic system, your lungs, your balance, your movement, your cardiovascular system…your health… not so you look good in gym clothes or have the biggest muscles.
Social: Sometimes we just have to do things because we know they’re right, although we may not WANT to. Doing the right things, in society, is not always easy (at all) when we are pulled in the opposite direction (by ourselves and others). But it most often will simply feel better!
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