From the age of fourteen to sixteen years old I was away from dance and exercise. Not only did I gain weight, which made me more depressed, it was the beginning of mysterious joint pain. Everyone in my family said was completely imaginary, it was all in my head. Slowly I found exercise outlets and became involved with a dance group and then in my senior year of high school I started working at a fitness center, teaching aerobic dance classes. This was perfect for me, jumping around to good music with other people who felt the same. I found my tribe, I just didn’t know it yet.
Amazing things happened during these years. I lost weight, which boosted my confidence. My body changed externally and internally. I stopped feeling depressed. The joint pain in my body disappeared. At the time I thought the pain in my joints which for me was pain in my ankles, toes and fingers was connected to feeling depressed, so the idea that it was “all in my head” kind of made sense to me. Since it “suddenly” disappeared. I was thin, I was exercising, I was enjoying life, I stopped thinking about it.
Because I had this part of my life "working" I was able to focus on more challenging elements, like making enough money to pay for college and balancing work and school. Exercise helps me to be efficient with my time, which is why it seems silly to me that anyone would state they don't have time to exercise.
Exercise give the energy to do more in the day you are allotted.
