ENCORE: Emotional Self-Care Walk | 18-Minute Walking Workout

Encore episode: We are in that weird "limbo" week between Christmas and New Year's. If the adrenaline has worn off and you're feeling a little empty, tired, or down in the dumps, this one is for you. (Originally released as Episode 19A on March 10, 2022.)
 
Have you been feeling down, stuck in a funk, or just... "blah" and can't seem to snap out of it?

Put on your walking shoes and let’s go for a refreshing walk. We aren't just burning calories today… we are burning off the blues and shifting our mood.

Whether you're walking outside in the fresh air, walking indoors on a walking pad/treadmill, or just listening while you put away holiday decorations, this episode is your gentle nudge to feel like yourself again.

P.S. You'll hear a bell halfway through. That's your cue to turn around if you're walking outside.

Tap Follow so next week’s walk is ready when you are.

—

Helen M. Ryan, former fitness pro and  personal trainer. Chocolate lover, traveler, concert photographer, author of “21 Days to Change Your Body (and Your Life).” 

Transcript

0:01

I can't explain it. I just feel down. I feel like I can't get anything done. I feel unmotivated. Just feel kind of, I don't know, out of sorts. Hi, walkers and talkers. If you're walking outside today, pick up a little bit of pace. Roll those shoulders. Shake out your hands. If you're doing this indoors, just start by marching in place. And if you're listening while you're driving or just hanging out or doing other things, you could just roll your shoulders with us, shake out your hands, relax your jaw a little bit, set out a nice steady walk today. We're going to talk about snapping out of your funk the other day, my son and I were coming back from this. And one of my neighbors came out and I was just going to put on my little happy face, you know, how are you, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he started saying, you know, I feel really down this weather has made me depressed and then his partner came out and he pretty much said the same thing. So instead of just murmuring those supportive noises that I would normally make, I decided to tell them the truth that I have been feeling out of sorts and depressed as well. And yeah, part of it is the way. But the other part is we have been dealing with this pandemic for a long time. Things are not normal. Like they always are, , I haven't been able to travel, which is my happy place and just where I am right now. I don't like the condo. If you listen to episode 11, , I told you about the mold and all the other things that have been going on. So for a lot of us, there's a bunch of little things that just add up and we can't break out of it. Today. We're going to try to figure out things that we can do to move ourselves forward and break out of our funk and break out of our rut. It's so easy for us just to stay in place and do nothing new and in a life where nothing gets better and nothing ever changes. Go a little bit faster now I'm not going to do timed intervals and time to work today. We're just going to flow more organically. I think we've all had a little bit of a time. And so we need to take a moment to just kind of go with it and feel our bodies and just be in the moment. Relax. So you're going to go a little bit faster right now. If you're walking inside and you want to work harder, you can bring those knees up, bring your hands up kind of like you're pushing the ceiling away. And my own situation. I have not been exercising as much or the kind of exercises I have wanted to.. I stay up too late at night and then I don't get up at the crack of Dawn. Yeah. I just feel like my day is, escaping me and then I panic and then , I can't get any work done. And then I just work, work, work, work to make up for it. And I haven't been walking as much and I really haven't been doing a lot of workouts. I did squats the other day and I did aggressive. Hello, I'm a fitness instructor, squat, which I'm not a fitness instructor anymore. Helen. You need to remember the hut. And the next day my butt was on fire. So that was actually a good thing. Got to do something a little different. Go a little bit faster now, still deep breath in through your nose. A lot of time, we get stuck in things that are not the best habits. This morning, I was being interviewed on a podcast and I laid in bed for 45 minutes looking at Facebook before I finally got up to get ready for the interview. And that really, isn't a great way to start your day because you're already behind. By the time you do that and I could have been doing so many more things. So I'm going to be cutting down on Facebook time in the morning. And. Tomorrow. I'm going to try not to look at social media at all while I'm still in bed. Cause suddenly, you know, an hour or two hours can go by and then you feel like you're behind the game. Like you can't get things done and then that's going to put you into a stress situation and you're just going to get all frazzled and out of sorts from there, deep breath in through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Feel for any tension in your. Try to Elise, whatever tense spots that you feel. A lot of times when my transcriptions come back, they say 10 spots instead of 10 spots. Uh, one thing I do want to say, if you. Are feeling very depressed. You should probably talk to your mental health provider. Feeling severely depressed is not a good thing. Feeling out of sorts is normal. Severely depressed is not. Get a checkup and make sure everything's okay. We want you to be healthy and happy. Feeling in a funk right now is really common and you just feel discouraged, right? You feel like, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's happening with my future. Can I make plans? Can I not make plans? Can I travel? Can I do this? Can I do that? then Someone cuts you off in traffic and you're mad and then this happens and then they just spiraled down, down, down, you're just stuck in this place where you feel like you're trapped and you can't get out of it. Go a little bit faster. Still. There's no one who's going to help us. We have to do this on our own. We have to find a way to make our lives different and find a way to make our lives better. And I understand as really hard, I feel the same way. It's hard right now for me. It's hard right now for you, but let's find ways that we can make change. Now. I want you to pick up even faster pace, be uncomfortable here, breathe because a number one tip we're going to talk about is exercise. I know you knew that was coming right. You knew that exercise was coming walking. You can fit in five minutes. You can fit in 10 minutes. If the weather's really bad, like a blizzard actually the lady who interviewed me today kept looking out the window. She said, because they had a blizzard. But you can walk indoors and you can dance indoors, just do something to help your body move. When you move your body. When you work out your release, endorphins and endorphins make you feel happier. So we need to try to chase those endorphins. Think of endorphins as your drug, better than coffee. Focus on getting those endorphins. If you have any indoor exercise equipment, or you can work out with weights, you can walk up and down. The stairs of briskly. Dancing is still one of my favorite ways. Slow it down just a little bit Fit in those moments of exercise that are going to make a difference. Meditation and yoga are really good to help you focus and focus on the good, get in touch with your body and not always stew on the negative. Maybe put on a yoga by Adrian video because you get to see her dog Benji . Benji will make you smile. They're short, you can do 10 minutes. You can do 15 minutes, but just focusing on that situation, taking that time for you, really becoming one with your body and pushing out the negative thoughts, that's something that you can try. Meditation doesn't have to be, you know, really weird and hippy like . Meditation can even be five minutes that you take for yourself. Put on your earphones, listening to some very relaxing music and breathe. There is also great meditation videos on YouTube. Headspace and calm. Also have meditation sessions find something that works for you. Find a meditation or yoga videos. You can connect with that's in line with your personality and that you can really focus on. Sometimes you put something on, it's just not the right thing for you. And then you just don't want to do it, or you get tense and angry, and that completely negates what you're trying to do. So find something that you can relate to, or just do it on your own. The important thing is to just be in the moment, feel that body relax. Episode 16, I think was a walking meditation that I did. So you can put that on and you can just walk with me and I'll help you meditate. And really just find some peace. now. Speed it up, push it. So you're a little bit uncomfortable. Another thing you can do. To snap out of your funk is to pet your pet, your pet. I know that sounds a little weird. You can also borrow a pet, but petting something soft, petting something, silky petting, something that just accepts you for who you are. It does wonders for your mental health and also helps relax and just feels really good to connect with your pet. And even if you don't have one go pet a neighbor's dog or a neighbor's cat. Alternatively, you can watch cat or dog videos. It's not exactly the same as petting them, but you still get a little bit of connection. I, you still get a laugh because they're just so ridiculously cute, but petting your pet can really help lower your blood pressure and make you feel more calm. So when things aren't going exactly as you want them. Just go ahead and try to pet your pet and see if you can calm down a little bit and relax, go a little bit faster. Still give yourself some kind of reward. A reward system increases your dopamine and dopamine. You feel more energetic and feel happier overall? I know it's hard to plan like a trip right now, but if you'd like to travel, maybe plan something for six months a year from now, but print it out and keep it somewhere where you can see it. So you have something to look forward to. We need to give ourselves things to look forward to and give ourselves small rewards. Something that makes life easier. If it's a new pair of shoes something small that makes you feel good about yourself, something that you've wanted for a long time, whether it's a book, a new pair of shoes. It's something that you wanted for your house. Something that you've wanted for your business. Just something little for yourself that you've wanted, that helps you feel some kind of reward. You do something to try to snap yourself out of your funk, then reward yourself for what you do. If walking doesn't seem enough for you, you walk and then give yourself some kind of small reward. It could be stuffed animal. If there's something that you really wanted, or even a piece of chocolate, just not the whole bag and make sure it's a good piece of chocolate, small rewards along the way, help reinforce whatever habits you're trying to create. Can I slow it down just a little bit? Find some moments to enjoy with other people. You can see a friend you haven't seen in a while, or even call someone on the phone or do a zoom or a FaceTime where you can see them. Face-to-face even if you can't get together with them, just spending time with people you enjoy spending time with people will make you happy spending time with people and make you laugh, whether it's virtual or in-person, that will also help snap you out of that. Once you get in that mode, it's kind of hard to get out of it on your own. So find someone that you enjoy talking to her, hanging out with. We're going to go a little bit faster again, focus now, pick up your pace and push it. Walk with intention. Walk strong, deep breath. And if you're walking indoors, just bring your hands over your head and really push that breathe. Focus on the way your body's moving, how your body feels when it's moving. Hold onto your pace. Feel that power inside you the positive energy is flowing through you right now. And you feel stronger and you feel happier hold onto it. Now, push it, stay with it and then release it and breathe. Not too slow. You're still walking, but a little bit slower than you just did. If you don't have a lot of people in your life right now, you can join a group, even a Facebook group. If you can find some like-minded people or a group where it's a topic that you have interests. Don't get into a group where everybody's always complaining. You need to get in with people who are looking forward, looking up and who have good insight ask people for help, ask people for advice, whether it's in a group or whether it's one of your friends or family members. Tell people where you are right now, because they may not know, they want to be there to help you. But if they don't know, how can they help you? So tell people where you are and then try to find a way to pull yourself out of it. If you're in a dark hall or a dark tunnel, and someone shines of flashlight on the exit, you can find the. Ask people for that little bit of help or that little bit of cheering up to help you find that exits you're not stuck in the dark by yourself, and you're not struggling by yourself. You want someone to help point the way, but only you can do the work. Pick up that pace, shoulders, relaxed, deep breath in and. Roll those shoulders back. Roll those shoulders forward. Shake out your hands as you do it. Make sure you breathe. I want you to go fast now. Go fast, go hard. Stay with it. You got it. Hold on to it. And now we're just going to relax it a little bit again. Relax your face. bill, those positive habits, one on each other. And for. One thing to do for yourself that we talked about and then build on that and then build on that and then build on the hat, exercise or walk when you can do a little daily meditation, even if it's only five minutes, pet your pet, pet someone else's pet. Enjoy the little moments. If you have a book or a bath or some time with a friend or family member, enjoy those little moment. Reach out to people and tell them where you are, ask for help and ask for some guidance, read a powerful inspirational book.. When you feel yourself everything seems to go wrong. And it happens. It's been happening to me this week. One thing after another, after another reverse the spiral and go. Again, reverse a spiral and take your mood back up to where it needs to be. Interrupt that circuit of the downward spiral. Shock it, change it. If something happens that's negative, find something that's positive to counterbalance it and just work your way up that spiral. Little by little by little write things down in a notebook, write things down on sticky notes. Remind yourself, what you need to do to pull yourself out of the spiral. We only have one life. We need to take advantage of every moment that's there. And yeah, it's hard. It's okay to feel down. Sometimes that's part of life. We can't always be happy. Feel those feelings, take a moment and then push yourself forward again. I have a friend, I think I'm going to ask her to be on the show. She had a battle with bladder cancer a few years back, and what she did is every day, she would take a few minutes in the morning to think about the cancer. She would think about it and think about. And then when that time was done, that she allotted herself, she would not let the cancer thoughts intrude on the rest of her life. And that is so brilliant. If you have things that are happening to you, like I'm been very stressed out lately.. I've had a lot of things going on and a lot of things not going on, I'm not doing everything I should be doing. I'm focused on the wrong things. If that is happening to you, take a certain amount of time a day, write things down, think about it, and then don't let those intrusive feelings come back. Don't let those intrusive thoughts. Clutter up the rest of your day because they paralyze us and we can't move forward. Slow it down a little bit more. Take a deep breath in through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Shake out those hands. If you're out walking when you get back, or if you're indoors working out with us, when you get back or done, just write a few things down that are bothering you and write a few things down that are going well for you. And try to add more to the things that are going well column and the things that you're grateful for column and understand. It's hard to feel grateful when things are going well.. It's so easy for us to focus on Stu on the bad things. So let's not do that. Let's make a pact that we're trying to focus on. Some of the good things will only leave a little bit of time to focus on what's not going on. And let's make a plan to move forward, to break ourselves out of our funk. Slow it down a little bit more. I'm going to have show notes on my brand new website that I hope you'll check out. I will have links in the show notes to some resources that I think you will find helpful. The website is www dot, walking, and talking and. So it's a, and D not the ampersand walking and talking.show. You'll find some good resources there. And I also have a freebie of fitting in steps when you're busy. So I would love for you to download that.' cause, you know, how I feel about walking, take another deep breath in and slow it down even more. I want you to breathe in all the energy around you, all that positive. And they're going to exhale, negativity, just exhale, forcefully, and push that negativity away. No matter what you're doing right now, do it one more time. Breathe in and just feel that positive energy as a light coming into you from everywhere. And then exhale that negativity. Push it out, push it out. Relax. Social. And let's keep walking and let's keep growing.