Confessions and Observations

I have one confession and two observations to share today.  Confession first.

My degree geared me towards a career in Corporate Wellness.  Most companies provide some type of Wellness Program for their employees to help prevent sick days and insurance payouts (yep, its all about the bottom line for them).  But because they worry about the bottom line, you can take advantage of the program as an employee to worry about your health bottom line.

My current employer has a wonderful Employee Wellness Program.  It provides use of their on site facilities, testing to measuree your current health status, consultation on that status, nutrition classes, and even some personal training, along with monetary rewards for participation in health improving activities (such as physicals, yearly check ups, dental check ups, reading a health/nutrition book, taking a fitness class, etc).  See?  Wonderful!

Here's my confession:  I don't currently participate.  There are lots of complicated, justifiable reasons why, but that changes as of today!  Yes, today I seek to rectify my hypocrisy and begin my participation in the program.  I'm actually looking forward to it because of the other element of the program: 3 hours a week of work-release wellness time.  I get to be off work for three hours this week just so I can go and do my workouts.  This is going to greatly increase my ability to stick with it.  If I want to leave work early, I HAVE to get on the treadmill.  What's more motivation than getting paid to work out?

Okay, on to the observations. 

Yesterday, after a particularly stressful day at work, I had 1) a headache and 2) a very big wish to just go home and veg out in front of my TV.  The headache and the work frustration started building off of each other to the point where I started justifying why it would be okay for me to skip gym night and just go home.  But thanks to some internal motivation and not wanting to disappoint my work-out buddy, I went to the gym anyway.  And here is what I observed at the end of my work out:

1.) My headache was mostly gone.  It still ached a little but the pounding and squeezing had stopped.  Now, this isn't entirely scientific.  I'll admit to taking some headache medicine before my work out, but I took a lot less then my body is used to having. 

and 2.) My mood was considerably brightened.  Again, it helps that the headache was almost gone but I want to chalk it up to my favorite type of mood altering chemical: Endorphins.  It seems silly, and for me it might be a placebo effect but who cares?  I felt a ton better.  Actually more upbeat and cheerful instead of gloomy and depressed.  I felt more powerful physically (we'll have to discuss my work-out power trip another time), and thus more able to overcome my difficulties at work.  Now did anything at work really change?  No.  Me moving a stack of weights up and down didn't change a single thing about my life.  However, it did change my attitude.  Boiling things down to one simple action, moving a stack of weights, counting to 20, can bring all of the crazy into focus.  I've always seen it as a form of meditation.

And here's the happy quote of the day:

"Exercise gives you endorphins.  Endorphins make you happy.  Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't."
-Legally Blonde