Physical Fitness and Your Divorce

Physical fitness is another important component of your fitness for divorce. Here are some suggestions:

Get Moving

Exercise is good for you for a number of reasons. Those wonderful feel-good hormones, the endorphins, are released during exercise and will have you feeling upbeat and positive before you know it. When you exercise you also increase oxygen to the brain, which will have you thinking more clearly, even sorting out problems you thought would never be solved. 

Your body may have suffered during the divorce due to lack of exercise and overeating. You may have gained weight. This alone can bring on feelings of self-doubt or worthlessness. Conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol can be alleviated with proper exercise. Your overall outlook will be better when you get out and get moving.

Eat Healthy 

When going through the divorce, you may have found yourself devouring huge bags of chips or candy. I won't go into the psychological aspects of this; you can probably see the link easily enough. But, now that the papers are signed, you need to throw out the junk and begin anew. Healthy, nutritious foods will give you the energy you need to get through the day. Eating healthy, whole foods are known to heal the body. When you provide wholesome foods to your body you are also feeding your brain. Not only will you reduce the chance of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, but you will be setting a good example for your children.

Emotional Fitness and Your Divorce

The second step in "Fitness for Divorce" is your emotional health. Here are some things to consider:

Time Out

A divorce can wreak havoc on the body, mind, and soul. The stress of raw emotions, tight finances, courtroom drama (if you didn't choose a collaborative divorce), legal haggling, and sad children can cause your entire system to shut down. You can be left depressed and physically ill. 

Take care of yourself first. You know the plane safety demonstration with the oxygen? Put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then your children. There's a reason for that. You won't be any help to your children if you let yourself deteriorate. Steal money out of the grocery fund if you have to and live on beans! Do something to get away and remember what it was like to spend a little time in the company of someone special...you.

Laugh

When you get divorced, you may go through a time when nothing seems funny, or fun. You may have avoided your friends. You most likely have experienced a degree of depression. Now is a good time to have a laugh, to start living again. The sheer power that a good laugh has to improve your mood is incredible. You don't have to do anything too involved; the simpler, the better. Enjoy a funny movie. Read a funny book. Go to a playground. Climb a tree. Read the Sunday comics. Play with some puppies or kittens. Play with your kids. Do whatever you need to in order to have a good belly-laugh.