Have you ever noticed that the happiest people exercise?

More than that, have you ever noticed that a lot of people that are super happy and motivated to live life started out by feeling the exact opposite?

They often credit exercise as one of the first things they did for themselves! It seems to be a catalyst for a well-lived life.

It usually goes something like this, “I was __ years old and felt depressed and unsure, and I decided to try fitness because I figured if I were thinner, I’d be happy. Suddenly though, I was thinking about bigger possibilities, and it all snowballed from there!”

Of course, that’s a super abbreviated version of the story, but it’s most likely something we’ve all heard or experienced!

We all know by now about the studies that say exercise might be more effective than antidepressants for depression, but this blog post is about more than just not being depressed.

This blog post is about loving your life, not just “getting through it.” It’s about becoming open and available to possibilities you didn’t even know existed yet!

By the way, I’m not saying “thin equals happy” above. I’m simply drawing your attention to how exercise addiction often starts.

I consider it a positive gateway drug that can lead to health and a whole lotta happiness!

EXERCISE: THE GATEWAY DRUG TO HAPPINESS

Exercise was my gateway drug.

Over 20 years ago, I picked up a VHS tape in a teenage effort to lose weight, but over the following two decades, exercise evolved as I did!

Or maybe exercise was actually helping me to evolve!

Similarly to a lot of the happy people I talk to or hear on podcasts, “exercise” was one of the first things I did that opened me up to new possibilities.

I had that small voice in my mind that kept saying, “Is this all there is to life?”

It was that little “action” of starting to exercise that created more and more awareness that YES, there actually was something more to life!

IT WASN’T ALL ROSES FROM THE START

Exercise was a gateway to the peace behind my eyes, and it’s a cornerstone to everything in my life still.

It’s a baseline, a checkpoint, and “drug” that never loses its potency to work through me in whatever way I need it.

It looks different depending on the day, the year, or the season of my life, but it never leaves me.

Exercise is free, and it always makes me feel good no matter the dose!

It didn’t start that way though — it took time! It took effort, consistency, failing, and allowing myself to stumble, fall, get back up, try again, and again, and again.

But it was the one thing that I could always reach for to pull me out of any funk.

Exercise was the thing I could do and feel good about doing, even if I did nothing else for the rest of the day. And it was the thing that always seemed to coincide with growth and joy in other areas of life.

It’s the one thing I wish everyone would integrate into their lives, because as every good lawyer knows, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t kill their husbands, they just don’t.” That was a quote from Legally Blonde, in case you missed it!

TONY ROBBINS AND STATE CHANGE

I was thinking about this topic while listening to Tony Robbins talk about “state change.”

I was jumping around and feeling great, and I just wanted to infuse my exercise high right into the bloodstream of everyone I’d ever met!

If I could do that, I could “cure” every one of the “is this all there is” disease!

I love sharing my love for fitness with clients and friends that want to be happier or find more peace in their lives. I want to convince them that they will feel amazing too if they just give it a shot.

This got me thinking about my life and how much exercise has played such a big part in my personal growth and happiness since the very beginning.

I’m obsessed with my “soul” workouts. They give me superpowers. I smile through full marathons and Insanity workouts because they feel so good to my soul!

I rarely experience bad moods, and I get my best stuff, my best ideas, and my happiest moments while I’m out on the trail running!

But as I thought about this, I wondered if my enthusiasm was doing a disservice to the person that is just starting out; the person that is still depressed, feeling unmotivated, lethargic and low on life; the person that thinks there might be more to life, but doesn’t quite believe it yet.

I was her! How could I have forgotten?!

STARTING FOR THE RIGHT REASONS

When I first started exercising with those VHS tapes, I was anxious and depressed. I was also on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds.

I didn’t like exercise at all, but I thought if it could make me lose weight, it could make me happy.

We often start things for the “wrong” reasons! That doesn’t make the thing “wrong,” it’s just the path of least resistance to get us to where we need to be.

Most of us weren’t about to hit the meditation pillow at 17, but tell us to hop on a treadmill to burn some calories, and we were in.

It was the “right” path at that moment. There are a million ways to Rome, and exercise happens to work for a lot of us!

In the early days I’d be punching and kicking with Billy Blanks on my TV screen, and still, feel deep anxiety and low-level depression.

I wanted to fall to the floor and cry for no apparent reason. Sometimes I did. Sometimes I would get back up and finish anyway; other times I’d turn the tape off and be done with it. But I always came back.

SHOWING UP FOR YOURSELF

Over the years, I just kept showing up for movement and exercise. It led me to more places and experiences than I could have ever predicted in direct and indirect ways.

That’s the funny thing about this thing called exercise, sometimes I’d meet great friends in a group fitness class. Or I’d go to a Turbo Kick camp across the country and discover personal development and new people with new ideas that expanded my world view!

Other times, I believe that it was just in the “doing” that the Universe opened doors for me to step through.

Let me elaborate on that last point — I believe the Universe rewards action takers!

Often I don’t know what action to take, but I know that if I just do something, “she” will reward me in unexpected ways. She will show me the next right action in my journey.

For example, I go for a run, and then suddenly, an email comes in with a new opportunity that I could only have dreamed of, or money comes in some surprising way.

COINCIDENCE OR UNIVERSAL ALIGNMENT?

Now you might say this all sounds silly or like “coincidence”, but I will tell you that it happens way too much to be able to call that coincidence.

Try it out — I dare ya!

Start exercising, start DOING something, and watch how the Universe “magically” drops opportunities, ideas, and inspiration right into your lap.

Often it comes as a “WOAH” idea right in the middle of a sweat session, but other times, it seems completely unrelated. (And by the way, my sweat session will look very different from yours, and that’s the beautiful thing about exercising!)

Don’t be fooled. You will see your life shift simply by committing to and showing up for movement daily!

LET EXERCISE BE YOUR GATEWAY DRUG TO HAPPINESS

What I want to drive home is this….

• The Universe rewards action, and imperfect action will do!
• Exercise is a great way to cultivate action in your life because it moves through you and creates shifts (and growth)!
• Any movement is perfect. Start where you are. Be consistent. Trust that what you do will evolve but right now is exactly where you’re meant to be!
• Know that nothing works 100% of the time, so if you have a crap workout, that’s totally fine! It’s not about “killing it” or getting a “runners high.” It is about SHOWING UP!
• When you SHOW UP, you tell the Universe you are ready to receive.
• There is more to life, and exercise can lead you there.
• It’s not a quick fix or the only thing — it’s a GATEWAY to possibility, purpose, health, and happiness.

IN CONCLUSION

In my experience, we humans want to overcomplicate everything, and yet we want immediate gratification.

Most people I know, including myself, have had times where we’ve felt “depressed and hopeless.”

We go to doctors and healers hoping for a prescription to fix the “problem” because there must be something wrong. But what if nothing has gone wrong?

What if this is just part of the human experience and we would grow and evolve into happier versions of ourselves due to that discomfort if we’d only allow it to MOVE through our bodies?

What if we could allow ourselves the next year or two years to make movement and exercise something we love?

If you’re open to the idea, I think you will find that exercise/movement can do more than boost your mood. It can be a catalyst to boost your life!

Comment below with the type of movement YOU love or want to love and how many days a week you commit to doing it! Let’s make it a MOVEMENT!

For more on Diana, head here!