If I’ve seemed a little less present over the past month, thank you for your patience and understanding.
At the beginning of September, my dad passed away. As you can imagine, the weeks before and after have been filled with grief, travel, family, logistics, and all of the things that come with losing someone you love. I’ve had to step away from work more than usual and give myself the time and space to be with my family and navigate this new reality.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the things I’ve turned to again and again during this time is movement. Not because a workout can fix grief. It can’t. And not because I think we should exercise our way out of difficult emotions. Sometimes what we need is rest, a good cry, a conversation with someone we love—or simply permission to have a hard day.
But over the past month, I’ve been reminded that movement can be an incredibly powerful tool for carrying stress.
Movement Gives Stress Somewhere to Go
We tend to think about exercise in terms of what it does for our bodies—building strength, improving cardiovascular health, maintaining mobility, or helping us stay physically capable as we age. But some of the biggest benefits of movement have nothing to do with how our bodies look or perform. Movement can also change how we feel.
Stress isn’t just something that happens in our heads. We feel it physically, too. Maybe your shoulders creep toward your ears. Your jaw clenches. You don’t sleep as well. You feel restless, tired, distracted, or somehow all three at once.
Movement gives us an outlet for some of that physical and mental tension.
Over the past month, sometimes that has meant going for a run and letting my mind wander. Sometimes it has meant getting outside for a walk. Other times it has been Pilates or strength work and having 30 minutes when my brain has to focus on what my body is doing instead of everything else.
Movement hasn’t made the hard things go away. But it has given me somewhere to put some of the stress that comes with them.
Sometimes Your Brain Needs a Break
One thing I love about movement is that it can pull us into the present moment.
When I’m doing Pilates, I’m thinking about my breath, my alignment, what muscles I’m using, and how my body feels. When I’m running, I’m paying attention to my pace but more often than not I let my mind wander or I think about my favorite book characters.
For a little while, my brain gets to focus on something else.
And when life feels overwhelming, that break can be incredibly valuable.
You don’t have to solve the problem. You don’t have to make a decision. You don’t have to be productive.
You just move.
Don’t Let Movement Become Another Source of Stress
Here’s the part I think we sometimes get wrong.
When we’re stressed, we often tell ourselves we should exercise. Then if we don’t have the time, energy, or motivation for our normal workout, we feel guilty about that too.
Now we’ve taken something that can help relieve stress and turned it into another source of it.
That’s not the goal.
Movement doesn’t have to be a five-mile run or a 45-minute workout to be worthwhile. A 10-minute walk counts. Stretching on the floor while you watch TV counts. Fifteen minutes of Pilates counts. Putting on music and dancing around your kitchen absolutely counts.
Ask yourself a different question:
What kind of movement would make me feel a little better today?
Not: What workout should I be doing?
Not: What will burn the most calories?
Not even: What will make me stronger?
Just: What do I need today?
Some days the answer might be a hard workout because you need somewhere to put all that nervous energy. Other days, your body may be asking for a walk, gentle mobility work, or rest.
Listen to it.
Good Over Perfect
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know this is something I come back to again and again: don’t give up good for perfect.
That philosophy feels especially important during stressful seasons of life.
Your normal routine might fall apart. You might miss workouts. You might have weeks when your body and brain simply aren’t capable of doing what they normally do.
That’s okay.
This past month, movement hasn’t been about improving my running pace, getting stronger, or accomplishing a particular fitness goal. It’s simply something familiar I can return to when so much else feels unfamiliar.
My dad was an incredibly active person throughout his life. He ran, biked, rock climbed, canoed, hiked, and spent as much time outdoors as he could. Movement and adventure were simply part of who he was. So perhaps it isn’t surprising that moving my own body has also been one of the places where I’ve felt connected to him.
There is comfort in doing something familiar. In getting outside. In taking a deep breath. In putting one foot in front of the other.
Movement Doesn’t Have to Fix Anything
I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned—or maybe relearned—this month.
We don’t always need movement to accomplish something.
It doesn’t have to change our bodies.
It doesn’t have to make us faster.
It doesn’t have to make us stronger.
And it certainly doesn’t have to fix whatever is hard in our lives.
Sometimes movement can simply help us feel a little more like ourselves.
So the next time life feels heavy, instead of thinking about what workout you should do, try asking yourself what kind of movement you need.
Maybe it’s Pilates. Maybe it’s lifting something heavy. Maybe it’s a run, a bike ride, a walk around the block, or ten minutes of stretching before bed.
It doesn’t need to be perfect.
It just needs to help.
