Goodbye, Workout Dread!

I'm a notorious over-thinker. It happens with everything I do, good and bad, consequential and inconsequential, past, present, and future... It's how my brain works. I have a tendency to be anxious and get nervous in large crowds and in situations that seem insignificant to others. It's something I have to talk myself down from multiple times a day. There was a short period (less than a year) in my life when I was prescribed a mild anti-anxiety medication for it.

It. SUCKS. Okay, I should say it usually sucks... It used to suck a lot more than it does now. I'm teaching myself different ways to cope. Stay out of heavy traffic if possible. Arrive early to things. Don't wait til the last minute to purchase groceries. Shut off the TV (most of the time). EXERCISE. (You probably saw that one coming, didn't you?)

I woke up this morning, filled with stress in regards to the rest of the week which is supposed to be a vacation (we're going camping at a friend's seriously awesome personal campground). Now. I won't get into any details about why I'm stressed out, but I will say that it's a mixture of common vacation anxiety and then other little stuff sprinkled in there that most people wouldn't even bat an eye at. Stuff that I will easily overcome when I'm faced with it. I'm just worrying totally unnecessarily. And I'm singing, "Don't worry about a thing. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!" over and over again in (and out of) my head. Thank you, Bob Marley for the theme song of the last 10+ years of my life. Seriously, thank you sir.

So anyway... The solution to curb my freak-out-ish-ness today? Well. The usual. Get up. Pour (and drink) some coffee. Make a list (lists are a GODSEND to me). Pop in Jillian's horrid (by horrid I mean IT WORKS) 50-minute "No More Trouble Zones" workout DVD and lift, plank, and sweat. TO DEATH. I can't believe I'm about to say this FINALLY, BUT. I ACTUALLY LOOKED FORWARD TO WORKING OUT TODAY. I didn't dread it. I knew that it was the only thing that would calm me down and I was looking forward to it as soon as I rolled out of bed.

This post isn't much help to anyone probably. It might contain a line or two of humor or something you might be able to relate to, but I mostly wrote it to document this milestone. The day when I actually looked forward to working out. A year and a half into my new "eat well, exercise lifestyle" and I'm finally able to look forward to it. I never believed I would get here. I'm here!

I've already posted another very similar meme to my Facebook page. Oh well.