Just what I needed

I exercised today!  I know for many of you it's a part of your daily life and for others it's more of an occasional affair.  Well for me it's neither.

I use to workout all the time... though it seems like a lifetime ago.  I was in the Army Reserves right after high school and I got more than my fair share of torture there.  After I got back I didn't do much of anything but I was only 19/20.. remember when it didn't matter what you did, you always looked fantastic, but I digress with my wistfulness.  A few years later, when I was in my early 20s, I started working out with my brother in law and a few of his friends.  I loved it!  I was dealing with some really life changing scary things and it was the perfect release, he was also a great teacher and motivator.  I continued to work out for quite awhile, taking breaks here and there but always coming back to it.   After having the Monkey I jumped back in full force and lost all the baby weight, I even looked better/healthier than I had before my pregnancy.  I felt great!

Then I got pregnant with the Princess and everything changed.  Perhaps it was the fatigue and morning sickness on top of having 3 young kiddos already or maybe it wasn't even the pregnancy.  Whatever it was I was spent!  Less than halfway through my pregnancy I was put on modified bed rest... I became the size of a house!  Well, not quite but it was bad!   I didn't care though, I love being pregnant and that was just part of it.  I was also remembering just how easily and quickly the weight came off the first time.  HA!  Those of you with more than one child already know how naive I was... and if it didn't happen to you with baby #2 then just quietly smile and nod.   So... baby #2 (by birth... we'll get into the details of that another time) and 3 terrors at home, along with a nasty New England winter, some questions and uncertainty in the Monkey's development and me being me = Postpartum Depression and Anxiety.  Fun times.  I worked really hard to dig my way out of that, there was too much at stake to give into it.  I am sure it was a combination of many things but exercising certainly helped.  Exercise alone wouldn't have been enough but it was there pulling it's weight in the cocktail of recovery... it helped bring me back to me.

Fast forward to two years after having the Princess... I developed 3 herniated discs.  It was horrible!  The pain was ridiculous!  It took me 2 full years to recover.  Since then I have been petrified of exercising.  Just the sheer thought of moving my body in the wrong way and going back to that pain filled place scares the crap out of me.  That's why today is so ironic...

I had no intention of working out, not a single embryo of thought... till I found myself at Rondeau's Kickboxing in Warwick  (they also have a location in West Warwick) this morning.  I went along with a friend just to check things out, or so I thought.  Other friends' of ours own the gym and another friend was holding her Super Woman class.  Let's just say things didn't unfold the way I had planned... that's how things are suppose to go sometimes though, isn't it?  The most important things seem to happen all on their own with or without our conscience choice.  Sometimes it seems we are guided to just where we need to be. 


I worked out... yup, I exercised and I can still walk!  It was just what I needed.  It helped me get out of my own head and my own way for that matter.  I also think it might help answer my question from yesterday's post...  we shall see!