Athleticism and Psychological Barriers.

This is a post from my running blog. It is really about re-learning health in that it is about identifying and overcoming psychological barriers to exercise.

So I have a couple of personality-twin friends who went from couch potato to marathoning in a couple of years. They started doing strange things like, joining running sites, getting running partners, going to running events, competing in marathons. I viewed this " reliance on others for motivation" as weakness, even though I logically knew that they were actually strengths.

I had belonged to various "support groups" my whole life and I knew they were excellent motivators. So I had to ponder, why were physical activities different in my mind? I concluded the following:

I was athletically challenged growing up. The extent of "team sports" for me was being picked to be on the 6th grade basketball team (that I know my teacher chose me for to boost my self esteem and not for ability). That resulted in being knocked flat on my back, and smacking the back of my head on concrete, during a game. That was the end of team sports for me.

I was also a social outcast and since team sports was not just about team work, but also had a strong social element, that did not jive well with me. And as everyone knows, the most social people in school, were also the ones that always ended up in teamsports.

Also, team sports involved competition. Due to family dynamics, I came to associate competition with conflict, and I viewed conflict as negative. So conflict/competition, in any area of life, was to be avoided at all costs.

Lastly, I spent the last 10 years fighting chronic musculoskeletal pain due to car accidents. Thanks to excellent healthcare, a little luck, and a lot of my own hard work, my pain is now manageable. Though I do still have limitations and have to be careful. Differentiating "good pain" from "bad pain" is a constant struggle for me.

Both of my personality-twin friends had very similar life experiences as me. I realized that their journey into the world of running was a testament to them overcoming very similar psychological barriers. They both became my inspiration to do the same.

So I decided to get over my hangups and get on with it. So I joined this group (barefoot running), I went to a group run (really just to meet some of the people -didn't really run- lol), got a running partner (just once a week but it's a start), and have made strides to push my body just a little harder, and I now regularly get on here and read about others' setbacks and accomplishments, and this all really does motivate me. And in the back of my mind, I even think about competing (if only with myself). And it's a positive thought.

Juicing

My husband and I started juicing and drinking juice for breakfast about 2 months ago. We bought a good refurbished juicer for $200. It works great.

My husband researched a bunch of food using a couple of books on Chinese Medicine and through trial and error (mainly sorting out nasty tasting veggies) we came up with the following:

Celery
Carrots
Berries
Zucchini
Spirulina/Kelp (powder)
Cinnamon
Mineral drops

This combination is fairly filling, and gives noticeable energy, and the best part, is my skin became noticeably healthier after drinking this -and it only took about a week.