Last year around this time, I was suffering from depression, dealing with family issues and unable to get simple tasks done. I spent most of my days in bed, avoiding school and friends because everything I wanted to do was too stressful or hard. I had no motivation or priorities and my grades were falling more and more every second I spent in my cocoon of a bedroom. Since I started doing yoga three times a week in June, the cloudy haze of disappointment I felt towards myself has disappeared.  

Every day I had yoga, I was so excited I could hardly sleep the night before. Being able to dedicate an hour to myself was what I looked forward to. When the summer ended, I had to find a more practical way to work out since my previous studio was in downtown Fort Worth.

I found MisFit Fitness in Azle, Texas, across the street from the Azle Library. The women who worked there had started the business themselves and split up classes between the three of them. I attended a Zumba class with two of my friends and we were all pleasantly surprised by how the class made us feel afterward.

Zumba is a good way to work out because you hardly realize how hard you’re working out until the song ends. You copy the teacher by following his/her steps that are usually repetitive and fairly simple. 

Unlike yoga, you’re never corrected. Its encouraged that if you can’t do a certain movement to just keep dancing however you please. There’s no right or wrong, as long as you are moving. 

Afterward, a hard workout will result in a “runners’ high”, which is caused by endorphins and serotonin pumping through the veins. These hormones interact to induce the runner’s high. It’s hard to be upset about your life once you realize that by working out, you’re taking care of your brain and your body.

No matter how hard you work out, you will receive some sort of benefit. Devoting time to yourself is a form of self-care, gets you out of bed and it’s possible if you go to a studio or class, you’re going to make new friends as well.

Don’t let your cozy bed trick you into not being productive for the day! Get outside and take a walk, go to a Zumba class. Take advantage of the fact your body moving can make you feel better.