Run Forest, Run!

Running, eh? Before you ignore this entirely hear me out.

Running doesn’t have to suck, honest. Like everything else, if you get off the couch and try to hammer out a half marathon, you’re going to suffer. Hell, if you’re off the couch and try to hammer out even a couple of kilometers, you’re going to suffer. You need to ease into this thing, and that’s what the 20 minute rule is for.

You don’t have to run for 20 minutes either, certainly not at the beginning. The important thing to do is just get outside for 20 minutes, run and walk for the duration of the time, and then if you want you can excuse yourself back inside. Take baby steps with this and build your capacity. There are a lot of online guides to starting a running routine. And if you can, run in the woods. It’s a lot easier to get out when you’re not pounding through a crowded concrete jungle.

Once you build your running stamina, you’ll find just how meditative the activity can be. The steady metronome of your feet falling and the rhythm of your breathing will drown most of what ails you. Again, the focus of running isn’t as narrow as that of a sitting meditation, but it’s pretty damn close, and of course the benefits of exercise for mental health are well documented. You’ll have to Google it yourself though, I’m not doing your damn homework.

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