A Healthy, Stress-Free Mind... is very important

I decided to put up this post because I had a really bad day a couple of days ago - I'm fine now, no need to worry ;) I was in the worst of moods (might have something to do with the "time of the month" or maybe I was just feeling sorry for myself).

I had a bad night's sleep, I woke up exhausted and had to get to the gym in time to teach a Fitter London class. I enjoyed teaching and by the end of the class, my mood was lifted. But I couldn't train... my friend offered to train me right after the class and I just couldn't get the enthusiasm to do it... that morning I didn't have breakfast - my mind just wasn't in the right place.

I've had days like this... some people use exercise to take their minds of things - this works for me 10% of the time. I remember having an argument with a friend many years ago - recalling what I'd read about exercise being a release from stress, I decided to go for a run - BAD idea! A couple of minutes into my run, I was even angrier... mad at people who didn't get the h*ll out of my way, mad at the British weather for being so annoyingly cold and just angry! So... I stopped running and walked back home.

When my mind's not in the right place, I'm not able to focus. I'm at my best when :

• I've had 7-8 hours of sleep
• My friendships/relationships are all ok
• I don't have problems - work, life, etc
• I'm just not stressing

I can eat very healthy, very clean (no processed foods, etc) and train really hard <--- which really should result in a really healthy and fit person *always*, right? BUT on days I'm stressed, my training sessions are the most disappointing ever, I am less motivated to eat well and I just feel rubbish.

I know it's not easy to "switch off" stress or negativity but what I'm trying to work on is to not allow myself get stressed as often as I do... I try to remember the good things that I have in my life e.g. I'm lucky I found something I'm so passionate about and was brave enough to make the career change, I have great friends (well, most of them, haha!) and I am healthy. But I sometimes let the stress overwhelm me, I'll keep focusing on the positives though...

I'm very far from it but I'm soooo working on it. Hope you are too :)

PS Lack of Sleep and Stress have been known to cause weight gain... isn't that enough of a reason to avoid them? ;)