Calmer, clearer and more creative

What is your favorite form of physical exercise?

Jogging or walking the dog would have to be my favourite form of physical exercise. I also find they are a great opportunity to get some time to myself as a business owner and parent that doesn’t get much in the way of time out. I find it especially good and easier to stick to if I can incorporate the exercise into my day. I almost always manage to stick to my daily dog walk, because I walk my dog to work. It’s very early in the morning before the sun comes up, it’s dark, cold and very quiet. I especially like the quiet it’s very calming.

Jogging has been harder to stick to, as I have two compressed disks in my spine. Because of this I have to be very careful and listen to my body. Sometimes my back feels slightly out of alignment and that’s when I resort to a fast walk instead of a jog. The benefits of a jog for me are great, because I’m someone with a lot of nervous energy. So when I don’t exercise my energy out of my body it tends to manifest itself as anxiety. So my mental health is definitely a lot better when I do exercise.

The benefits of dog walking are also great for my creativity as well. It’s a matter of getting out in nature and getting a bit bored, something that’s proven to be beneficial for the creative brain and the thriving artist. I used to fill my head with podcasts, but I came to the realisation that my brain wasn’t having any down time. Just like every muscle in your body and exercise, you need to have rest times or you just burn yourself out, or do yourself an injury.

So exercise definitely helps keep me calmer, clearer and more creative as a thriving artist.