Exercise for your Mental Health - Why I’m Mentally Stronger
Written by Personal Trainer, Nicky Taylor
Nicky Taylor, Personal Trainer
When you feel down, move your body
When you feel angry, move your body
When you feel anxious, move your body
I could carry on, but I am sure you get the point!
movement
Lots of us live very sedate lives – moving from bed to car to office, then back to car to sofa and then finally bed, all of this is on REPEAT EVERY DAY. This routine is not healthy! It doesn’t benefit our health or mental well-being.
“Movement creates endorphins which gives us that happy feeling and makes not just our body feel amazing but our minds too!”
Our bodies are designed to MOVE! Movement creates endorphins which gives us that happy feeling and makes not just our body feel amazing but our minds too!
For me, this 'moving' was, and still is, key to me feeling at my best!
MINDSET
I was always sporty and active, and I still am. I get so much joy from any physical activity. From athletics club all the way to even just bombing around the farm on my bike. I loved to clamber up the monkey bars at the park.
Topped with my thought process that food was fuel for my body so I could go jumping about and having fun running around fields with friends.
This simplicity of being a child, which we all lose eventually. I could see it happening in the adults in my life, I would see how my mum and my older sisters talked negatively about their body, which in turn led to them being negative about food and doing fad diets that were not sustainable.
As a family they would always cheer me on with my sporting desires and never off loaded their negativity of eating, but any exercise or eating for them was more of a fad-basis, used only to only shrink. Their thought processes about food were those that are less nutritionally dense were labelled as ‘naughty’.
“I instead looked at exercise and nutrition in a positive light, to fuel your body and enjoy your life”
I will be honest I was very lucky to that I was not influenced by this. I instead looked at exercise and nutrition in a positive light, to fuel your body and enjoy your life, this in turn led me to start my business as a Personal Trainer (PT) and Coach.
You might think that as a PT my job is just there to help women achieve that ‘pie in the sky’ the ‘perfect body’ lose fat and get toned then off on to the next client but that isn’t my style.
Exercise
Exercise and taking care of myself has helped me grow so much. It has moulded me into the person I am today. Through my love of being active, and generally looking after my well-being this has helped me build my confidence, improved my body image, and made me not just physically healthy but has made me mentally healthy. I feel powerful and capable. In turn I have passed on the positive mental outlook to my clients, making them realise the health is from the inside.
“I feel powerful and capable.”
I have made it my mission to help women across the world THRIVE in life using the basic abilities we have which is to move and to eat well, nourishing not just their bodies but their minds to!
We wave goodbye to the myths and the bullsh*t that has surrounded us in the media over the years, and those miserable diets the women in my family kept yo-yoing back and forth with and embrace the positive thought processes with being active and eating, showing my community that focusing on how they FEEL will always bring the best results not just physically but mentally too!
We all need to focus not on what we think makes us feel good but what we DO that makes us FEEL good.
If you want to FEEL the benefits of movement and find a balance with your self care journey, drop me an email or DM me on instagram - I’d be more than happy to make you THRIVE IN LIFE!
FIND OUT MORE…
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