healing, recovery & trying to find balance within all things
over the last four years, I have been on the journey of creating balance and reassessing my relationship with food & exercise.
What I’ve learned is that just because something is associated with health doesn’t mean it’s inherently healthy. It’s about finding balance and thinking about our relationship to something i.e., are we using something as a distraction or is it adding to our lives in a positive way?
we often hear balance is the key to life. deep down, intuitively, we know when we are out of balance when our minds and bodies feel a wee bit out of sync. Yet, we get comfort from the patterns and routines we carry through our lives that balance and change are hard to find.
I used to use exercise as my sole outlet for stress, angst, and worry for many years. I would run squillions of miles every day and justify it in my mind by reassuring myself and anyone else who asked that I knew what I was doing, that it was a good thing, and it was not having an adverse effect on my life. I was in denial, and I wasn’t fully seeing the impact on my mind and body.
recently, I have heard people talk about exercise addiction on a few podcasts, the one that comes to mind is JRE. I remember hearing something along the lines of at least he is obsessed with something that is good for him.
we rarely hear about the impact of healthy obsessions. In fact, running excessively and pushing our bodies to the extreme is often idolized and encouraged. Words like the grind and conquering your inner bitch can perpetuate the idea of excess and burnout. Pushing through all our bodies cues to take rest and recover.
PS this is not to say intense exercise is in any way bad. It’s more to highlight that anything out of balance is not sustainable. It might work for different seasons of our life. When we have to go all-in on something for a short period of time... however, the go-all-out approach associated with exercise, which is often perpetuated on social media can lead to burnout and shame. I can’t imagine how many people have been injured whilst listening to David Goggins and by pushing themselves too much. Pushing ourselves in all aspects of our lives, and seeing our potential is huggggely important. But not at all costs with no thought of consequences, especially for people who can become overly obsessed.
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