If you struggle with mental health challenges or low self-esteem, making movement or nutrition changes rarely sounds appealing.
Low self-esteem? The last place you want to go to is a gym.
Struggling with depression or anxiety? The thought of having the energy to make changes seems impossible.
What many people forget to understand is that the improvement they seek is not a destination. The improvement comes through the journey.
Many mental health and self-esteem issues could be drastically improved through the act of movement and improved nutrition.
I do not speak of this lightly. I, myself, struggled with severe post-partum depression for many years while having my children. This depression then continued on and has now required me to seek multiple methods of support and help.
Do you want to know what some of the most effective strategies for managing and battling my depression are?
Eating well and moving!
Many people are afraid to try because they feel the mountain of work ahead is too big. The great news is you don’t have to reach the final destination to see improvement. After the first walk or the first day of eating better, a person’s mood and energy level can improve.
I have always said that movement is medicine.
Movement has the ability to immediately improve a mood, your thought life and your health. We often make things too complicated or too fancy. Never underestimate the value of 5 minutes or just a walk. Nothing is insignificant. Start simple. Start short. Little by little 5 minutes becomes 8 minutes and then 10 and then onward…
Something is always better than nothing, starting is just the hardest part.
I regularly offer a program that is called my active living kick starter program. It may seem ridiculously simple but do you want to know what it does? It gets people started.
This program challenges you to start with 5-10 minutes of walking daily. We build consistency and then add a little bit more. After 1 month the changes are amazing! After 2 and 3 months people often feel like completely different people! All because they started walking and they started making tiny changes to healthier choices around food and water.
It was fancy, complicated or hard. We just set smaller expectations and smaller targets.
My best advice to those struggling with mental health challenges or self-esteem issues is to start. Start doing something!
Get support so you don’t have to do things alone. There will be days you do not want to do the very things that are helpful. Build a network of people around you to join in the journey. Get a great coach. Keep it simple. You may surprise yourself that changes start to happen as you get started.
