Stress and anxiety are on the rise, and it's no surprise in an overstimulated, media
-addicted, immediate gratification demanding world, our brains are on overload,
and the demands on our time are relentless. For many of us, all that overthinking
and mental chatter is wreaking havoc on our nervous systems. I believe that the
secret to developing a greater sense of calm in your life is to manage your mind
and body with good daily habits. So this is part four of a four -part series where
I talk about my go -to daily habits that help me manage my stress, my health, and
my overthinking brain. Let's get started. Hey there, you are listening to the
Overthinkers Guide to Joy. This is a podcast for overthinkers, overachievers,
perfectionists, type A, stressed out, anxious people who just want to calm down and
feel better. I'm your host, certified life coach Jackie de Crinis.
Hey there and welcome back. So this is the end of my four -part series,
the four essential elements to reducing stress or what I refer to as my homework.
H for hydration, O for observe your levels, meaning what are you eating,
when are you eating, when are you sleeping, how much are you sleeping? M is for
meditation. And today we're gonna learn about the E. And the E is for exercise.
Sounds pretty obvious. So why do people exercise? Well, the obvious one is that
people exercise to lose weight or to stay in shape or to tone their muscles.
Those are all good reasons. But exercise is not just important for your physical
health. It's important for your mental health. And it's a great stress reducer. It's
particularly awesome for people like us, the overthinkers. Because getting out of your
head and doing something physical is a great way to release all the spinning
thoughts.
Sweating, increasing your endorphins, all of it is just so great.
For those of you who heard my original podcast on the Home Series when I had
recorded it for hacking the holidays way to reduce your stress during the holiday
season, you've heard me talk about this, which is I was not always a proponent of
exercise. In fact, I really didn't like exercise growing up. My relationship or my
association with exercise meant physical education, also known as PE, and my memories
of PE were this. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley where it was hot most of
the year in Los Angeles. And we had these really horrible sort of polyester
uniforms, which sort of made us look like we were in prison. They were like green
and white striped, super unflattering. And then these horrible little nylon gym shorts
are not nylon, but like polyester. So they were ugly. They were uncomfortable.
We had to like sometimes change in the morning, as you know, or in the end of the
day, and nobody, of course, wanted to take a shower, so nobody really wanted to
sweat. And PE was really just running around the school on cement in sometimes 95
degree weather, sometimes 100 degree weather, sometimes with smog alerts. It was
awful. And this was long before like good track shoes. So I'm like running in just
old -fashioned sneakers. I had shin splints all of the seventh grade. And then when
we weren't running, we were doing really fun things like sit -ups and push -ups.
Yeah, no. So here I am, this sort of scrawny seventh grade girl. I'm actually in
terrible shape. I'm not overweight, but I have no muscle tone. My bones are growing.
I don't like PE, I don't like running. I certainly don't like push -ups and sit
-ups. And so I associated all physical exercise or the word exercise with basically
wearing a gawky uniform and being in 100 degree heat and running on cement wish -and
-splints. So by the time I got to high school, I was clever enough to forge my
father's signature. I'm not a criminal. It's like really the only naughty thing I've
ever done. But I forged my father's signature to get myself out of PE for all of
high school. I don't remember what I said. I was allergic to something or I had
some condition that didn't permit me to run or I'm not sure. And I'm not even sure
what I did during PE instead of going, but somehow it was okay. And I avoided PE
for all of high school. By the time I got to college and gained my freshman 15,
I realized, "Ooh, I really need to incorporate exercise into my life," because I
didn't like being chunky, and it seemed like all the girls who were maintaining
their weight were going to this place called the gym, and I didn't really know what
that was about. So I decided to go to the gym, and of course it was the 80s, the
early 80s. And aerobics was big. So now I've gone from gawky PE uniform to ugly
Lycra Leotard with leg warmers. And we went into this like sweaty dirty gym where
they had sort of this paper thin carpet, probably on cement floors.
And now I'm doing aerobics. Yeah, with like a headband and frizzy curly hair. And
Two weeks later, I had shin splints from that too, and I didn't like aerobics. So
yet again reinforcing my belief that exercise wasn't for people like me and there
was no form of exercise that I could either do or do without being injured. So
that didn't go well. When I graduated college, I joined a different gym and I
started lifting weights and, I don't know, doing stationary bicycles and things like
that. And clearly, I wasn't very efficient at that either because I still hated it.
I don't even think I worked up a sweat. I was probably doing everything wrong, but
I felt like by going there, I was exercising. And at least I showed up and I did
it. And then I found yoga and I really liked yoga.
Yoga worked for me. It was mental, I didn't get injured, I felt like I was really
elongating my muscles and I was getting a mental break from the overthinking chatter
that was always in my brain. And that worked for me. So I did yoga and then
because I had a very busy corporate career and I went on to have three children,
there seemed to be no time for yoga and my exercise routine stopped. And then in
my late 30s, it was somebody who said to me, you really should have a hobby. Like
you can't just work and raise children. And I was like, where will I have time to
create a hobby? And they said, you better do it because you are a stress machine
waiting to explode. And it was true. And so I started taking tennis lessons.
A half hour a week, I found somebody who taught on Saturdays and I hired a
babysitter and I went and learned to play tennis. And it was the first time that I
was like, oh, exercise can be fun, who knew? Anyway,
I became a huge tennis addict. Everything was tennis, tennis, tennis, tennis. And all
my new friendships were made through tennis. I ended up marrying my second husband
because I met him playing tennis. And tennis became my thing. And tennis didn't feel
like exercise. I just loved it. I loved the socialization of it.
I loved that I could sweat and not even notice or care. I loved everything about
it. And so tennis became my exercise. And like most things, unfortunately,
tennis created its own that of injuries, everything from tennis elbow to shoulder
problems, rotator cuff, tears and things like that. And so tennis and I have had a
very long 20 year relationship of I love it more than it loves me.
It has been an important part of my social life and it has been a great outlet
for me and It's kept me in good shape, but when I was injured and couldn't play
at various times over the last 20 years, I've had to find other forms of exercise,
and that's been everything from cycling to spinning to walking back to yoga and all
kinds of things. But what I learned was that exercise became a crucial part of my
physical well -being as well as my mental well -being. And so exercise became part of
my four essential elements that I do every single day.
Finding a sport you love or finding an activity that you love doesn't have to be
all -consuming. It can be supplemented. You can go find a sport you love and play
it on the weekends, play on holidays, or you can just start walking. If you have a
dog, just walk your dog. Stretch in your living room when you're watching TV. If
you have a DVD player or an old VCR or YouTube, Google what you like doing.
If it's Pilates, if it's yoga, if it's stretching, if it's old fashioned aerobics,
if it's swimming, surfing, tennis, golf, even ping pong.
It really doesn't matter what you do, but moving is essential to your well -being.
So people say to me, "Well, I don't really like walking by myself. It's boring.
It's lonely. I get tired." One of the things I recommend all the time is getting
headphones and listening to a book on tape or listening to music or listening to a
great podcast like this one.
Now there's others too, but listen to this one first. You don't have to be an iron
man. You don't have to be a marathon runner. You don't even have to join a gym.
By the way, I still kind of bristle at gyms. I think I have like PTSD from the
gyms of the 80s where I was going and doing everything wrong and not really
enjoying it and definitely not liking my body in a Lycra leotard. But find your
thing. And if you live in a place where it's just inconceivable to walk,
you know, because it's too cold in the winter or it's too hot in the summer, do
something indoors. There's so many opportunities. The other thing I hear all the time
is that people say, "I don't have time. I work 12 hours a day, I commute two
hours a day, I have children, I have this. Include your children in your exercise.
Include your animals, right? Like I said, go walk your dog. Or if you come home to
kids, like put on a video that everybody can exercise to, make it fun, there's tons
of family fitness. Or get up a few minutes early and just take a walk around the
block. But It changes your mental state when you make yourself a priority and you
move every day. Now, one of the things I hear a lot is I intended to take a walk
today. I intended to take my lunch hour and do something physical. I intended to go
after work, but I'm just so tired or I was so hungry or I was so this. These
four They are intended to go together, hydrate, eat regularly,
eat healthfully, get a good night's sleep, meditate, exercise. They are intended to
work in concert together. So planning your meal,
having that afternoon snack before you go work out, or working out and then having
your protein bar or your protein shake ready for you when you're finished on your
way to work. Whatever you decide is the most optimum time for you to work out or
you to meditate. The idea is that you're planning all of this together.
It's all about planning it and scheduling it, writing it in your calendar.
Now, can it be flexible? Of course, sometimes you're gonna have a meeting or
sometimes you're gonna have to pick up one of your kids from soccer or sometimes
there's gonna be an early dinner or a late dinner or something. Something's gonna
come up. But make it like a module in your calendar that it can be moved to an
open spot. I usually plan my, because I work early in the morning and then I
finish in the late afternoons, I plan my workouts in the afternoon.
But when I was a corporate executive, I had to plan my workouts in the morning
because I worked into the evenings and then I had to get home to kids. So it's
really just figuring out where are the holes in your day that you can find that at
minimum 15 minutes. And then where you have extra time, if you are a runner or you
are a tennis player or a golfer or a surfer and your activity, your sport takes
longer, what are the days of the week that you can schedule that? What are the
days of the week where work is a little bit easier or where you have time off
that you can do it? Or what are those things that you can do with your whole
family? So planning it, scheduling it. But like the Nike corporation says,
just do it. Now, obviously they're trying to sell shoes, so they're trying to get
you to do things so that you buy and other paranoid keys, but the message is the
same, which is just move your body. Move your body because when you move your body,
you are actually changing your brain chemistry. You are releasing serotonin.
You are getting a dopamine hit. You are lifting up your spirits and you are
inherently reducing your stress. It's totally awesome. And like everything else we
talked about, it's a practice. You don't have to be competitive.
You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to look perfect. You don't even have
to do the same thing every day. You just need to plan it,
schedule it, and do it. So that's my pitch. That's my recommendation for the final
four. Exercise. Are you ready to commit to 15 minutes a day of movement,
of any kind, but find something that brings you joy? Do it because it feels good,
either at the beginning or during or at the end. It doesn't matter. But make it
easy. Don't Take it hard, do something that's easy, that you know how to do, and
just the more you want to do it, the more you will do it. Alright, this is how
you're going to manage your overthinking brain. It's with the home checklist, H is
for hydration, O is for observe your levels. Eat well, plan your meals,
sleep well, plan your sleep, meditate every day,
exercise every day. How much time are we talking about? Hydration,
you can do it while you're doing other stuff. It takes no time. Eating, you got to
eat. Whether it's breakfast lunch and dinner, whether it's just breakfast and dinner,
you decide. But you have to eat and you plan it. All I'm saying is plan the meals
ahead so that the meal is healthy and you're giving your body the fuel it needs.
Sleep, schedule it, plan it. You're gonna do those three things anyway.
So now we're into meditation. Meditation, we're only looking for five minutes a day.
If you can create more, awesome, five minutes. And exercise,
We're only starting with 15. If you do more than that, that's awesome.
So you have 20 minutes a day to add meditation and exercise to your daily routine.
So before you start to label yourself with things like, "I'm so stressed.
I'm so anxious. I'm so sad. I'm so depressed. I'm so tired." We all do it. We all
have these feelings, they're human. But before you go there, check your homework.
Have you done everything on the list today? If you've done everything on the list
and you're still feeling stressed, anxious, sad, depressed or tired, then go take a
rest. Go do something nice for yourself. If it's chronic, go get some help,
talk to a professional. But like I said, before you label yourself as having all of
these emotions, check your homework and see if one of these four things doesn't help
alleviate some of those emotions. Now you have your homework for this week and for
every day. And come join me next week for another episode of The Overthinker's Guide
to Joy. I've got a lot more in store for you and it is going to be awesome.
You don't want to miss it. Have a great week. Bye for now. If you want to learn
more tips about managing your stress and how to manage your overthinking brain, just
go to my website and sign up for my weekly newsletter at jackiedecrinis.com. That's
J -A -C -K -I -E -D -E -C -R -I -N -I -S dot com.
You can also follow me on Instagram at Jackie de Crinis. Bye for now. Thank you for
listening to this episode of Overthinker's Guide to Joy. If you like what was
offered in today's episode, I would love you to leave a review and subscribe or
follow wherever you get your podcasts.
