My Brain's Not Broken

The inspiration for this post came a few days ago. I was riding a stationary bike at my girlfriend’s for the second day in a row, and I wasn’t sure how much I was going to get out of it. The day before, I slogged through the ride, feeling like I wasn’t really getting what I needed. I didn’t think I had the mindset to do that again, so I decided to adjust everything on the bike – and I mean everything. The seat, the handlebars, the resistance on the pedals. I ended up having one of the best workouts I’d had in a few weeks. When I was done, I immediately thought about the connection between this workout, my mental health, and how perspective is allowed to change and adapt when it comes to our wellness.

I’ve written before about my attitude on mental health and my specific approach to wellness. When I think about this approach to wellness, I think more about what I’m doing and now how I’m doing it. For instance, I make the decision to ride a stationary bike because I know physical exercise is good for mental wellness. What I don’t usually think about is how I can take advantage of that workout to put me in the best mood possible.

Most of my mental health perspective comes from accepting everything I see and experience as truth, as things set in stone and permanent. I take things for what they are because I don’t want to tinker with the things I know will help my wellness – almost to a fault.

In my head, there are a few things I can do that improve my wellness. If I tried to do them in any way that’s different than usual, they wouldn’t work (I’m realizing now that I place far too much stock in activities to improve my wellness, but that’s a post for another day). But I’d like to start approaching those activities from a different perspective. If I can approach my wellness by also figuring out how I ca get the most out of the experience, I’m placing more value within myself and acknowledging that I need to work to get what I need.

I know there’s an easy explanation for why I tend to accept things as they are, or don’t change aspect of my mental wellness. I’m going up against years of telling myself that I don’t matter enough to ask for what I want/need, and I tend to forget that. The reality is that when I make changes and adjustments to meet my needs, I can dramatically improve my mental wellness. Sometimes it can even put me in a good mood – which is language I rarely use.

I hope to use this knowledge of perspective to my advantage in the future. I hope I can remember that things don’t always have to be just as they are. Because even when it’s something as simple as a bike ride, the joy of feeling good is unmatched for me, and I’ll take that however I can get it.