Shelena

I already had mental illness before I started!

Apparently, it is not true

Thank you so much. The kind reactions really help me feeling better about it. I really hope it helps someone!

I agree. I have one too and I am very happy with it. I also think it does not break as easily as most other phones. I drop it all the time and it is still fine, even the screen.

Thank you! That is very kind.

I hired the personal trainer too. I just kept thinking I was doing something wrong and I should just follow his schedule. So I did exactly what he said, and that did not work either. I even did worse on the stamina test after training with him for a while than on the test at the start. That is when I quit.

Ihave tried bicycling and I had similar issues with that. But maybe I did not keep enough to my own pace. That was back when I did not understand how it worked and just tried a schedule to build up stamina. You are exactly right, it should not be about performance. Maybe I should try it again with my new mindset. Thanks!

Swimming does work if I go slow! So, I am in the lane with the elderly and just go slowly back and forth. The physiotherapist did tell me I should not go into water that is too cold, because my stress might increase from that as well. So, I found somewhere to swim when the water is warm. I try to do it once a week.

Thank you so much! I am very lucky with where I live. There are lots of beautiful forests here!

Yes, my first psychologist really was terrible. She really made things worse. She just always made me feel like I just should try harder and like a failure. That was the opposite of what I needed.

I was actually much too harsh on myself. I am trying tor learn to be more kind to myself and to take how I feel seriously. It is difficult if you are not used to it, but that helps me really well. My physiotherapist keeps telling me that I only have to do things I want. This sounds like a very basic thing, but it is quite new to me to ask myself "do I want this?" instead of just pushing myself because I think I should.

I am glad exercise works fine you. I think it works for most people. However, I have never in my life felt good after exercise. So, I think that is the difference.

If it helps for you, definitely start doing it again. Maybe you can be kind to yourself too and see how you can make your life easier in another way to have more room mentally to get yourself to start.

Exercising just does not work for everyone. If your stress levels are extreme, it might not benefit you. You might need to find another way to reduce stress first.

Yes, I agree! My physiotherapist explained to me that this can have to do with your level of stress. If it is already extreme, your body cannot deal with with the extra increase in stress that running creates. Pushing yourself can in that case further disregulate your nervous system and walking is better.

Could be the case that your stress levels are too high for exercise to benefit you. Moving, like walking, is fine in those cases. But anything that gets your stress levels up, like weight lifting or running might feel like torture and not provide benefits afterwards. You have psychosomatic therapist who might be able to help with this.

I had the same experience. I think exercise works for a lot of people, but not for everyone. The people who it does not work for het pressured into doing it anyway, which is harmful. In my case, my stress levels were consistently extreme and exercise would put it into an even higher zone where my body was unable to deal with it. All the pressuring me into exercising really harmed me. It took me years until a specialist explained this to me and all this time I felt like a failure and I tortured myself with exercise.