It Takes Work, Lots of Work

I got a new piece of exercise equipment because anxiety has left me extremely out of shape.  As I began working out, a recurring thought overwhelmed me.  I know I’ve talked about this before but it is something that I truly struggle with.  Recovery takes work, a lot of work.  When I first starting seeing a psychologist I thought, great, I can show up once a week and talk about what is bothering me and I’ll be healed.  Doesn’t work that way, at least for me.  Sure it is helpful to talk about what is bothering you but that is only one step.  Unless you change those thoughts.  Unless you dedicate yourself to change and the things that need to be done to bring out change, nothing will change.

Its like going on a 5 mile bike ride and expecting to have the endurance and strength of Lance Armstrong.  Its like going for a leisurely swim at the public pool and expecting to wake up the next day with the body of Michael Phelps.  Any great change takes time and effort and dedication yet this is what my mind tells me everyday about anxiety.  Do your homework, exercise, and eat right for one day and tomorrow you will wake up, your mind and body will be magically cured of the years of chronic stress and worry.

I’m not writing this to scare you and discourage you, I’m writing this to give hope.  Marketing and the media have us believing that we can make great changes over night but the truth is that they don’t show us the months of grueling work, the getting up early when we would rather stay in bed, the daily grind that makes people successful.  If is was that easy to recover then we wouldn’t appreciate it, we wouldn’t learn from our trials, we wouldn’t become better people for it.