Does Exercise Make You Happy?

If you have been following me for a while, you know I walked the Camino de Santiago from Porto, Portugal to Santiago, Spain last Fall (of 2021) with my husband and some friends.

We covered at least 160 miles.

That’s a lot of walking-but to be fair, it was done over 2 weeks with a few rest days in between.

Nonetheless, we walked 8-10 miles a day. It was great!

It put smiles on all of our faces-at least most of the time. Maybe not so much when it was hot and we were walking in the sun…but hey, that was all part of the experience.

Mainly, it was a very happy time for all of us-blisters and all.

Why, you might wonder?

Well, exercise is a great mood lifter! It’s got a big open gate to the path of happiness.

When the pandemic hit, one of the saving graces for my husband and myself was to walk.

We are extremely fortunate to have walking trails 10 minutes away from our front door-so we upped our walking routines from a couple/few times a week to daily.

It’s amazing how that walking practice, exercising like that every day, allowed us to feel a whole lot better even while all the circumstances of the pandemic spelled stress and anxiety.

I am fully aware of how exercise can evoke thoughts of “it’s too hard, I don’t want to take the time, it’s not enjoyable” and so forth.

To reframe those negative connotations, if they apply to you, you may want to think of exercise as simply moving your body for your happiness.

If happiness is a goal-then moving your body is just the thing you need to do.

Of course, not everyone is able to move their body by walking or doing yoga or strength training.

Yet, there are many ways to explore how you can do simple movements to increase your happiness levels.

Check out the article about Happiness and Exercise!

Warmly,
Jackie