If I was told a year ago that in a years time I would be obsessed with exercising I would have laughed like someone was telling a funny joke! I know what being obsessed with exercise is like…I’d been there and done that before! I was off on another track (having babies) for a while, but eventually found my way back on the track that I knew for many years before becoming a parent!

I look back at what I was like and wonder how I existed with the lifestyle I led! I got myself into a pattern of bad eating habits, poor sleeping and never getting out to exercise, but then one day I decided to change all of that and although they say losing weight is 80% food and 20% exercise, it’s the exercise I now do that has enabled me to become the strongest person I can be….it is my drug I take which helps me cope with the throws of life!

For me, exercise….
*Helps me to clear an overloaded brain…so much can go on at the one time around here and there are days where I literally feel like my brain is going to explode….but once I’ve exercised I can come back to the same situation with a clear mind!

*It helps me to manage my busy life without having regular meltdowns….there are times of the month or certain times of the year when life becomes so busy I just want to stop and scream…this feeling is becoming a faded memory of the past since exercising!

*It allows me to think positively….it’s so much easier at times to look at an ordinary situation with a negative attitude…since exercising I feel so much more calm when faced with a difficult situation!

*It allows me to get so much more done in a day…before exercise, I would have days where I could barely put one foot in front of the other, now I just get up and soldier on until things are done!

*It allows me to feel confident as a mum, as a teacher and as me!

*It allows me to feel strong…like I can handle anything!

*But most importantly it allows me to feel awesome! Keeping fit and eating healthy helps me to get out of bed each day with a step in my stride!

You often hear people say ‘your obsessed’ with exercising or ‘it’s their new obsession’! Once exercising for a while, like a drug, your body starts to crave it, your mind keeps telling you need it, which is where the obsession starts! But when put into context and compared with actual ‘drugs’, I know what I would rather choose! If my ‘drug’ in life is exercise and for me that’s running, then I’m proud to say I’m an addict! Because at the end of the day like any obsession with the cravings and withdrawals….exercising may be a drug in habit, but a bloody damn good one!