This week I completed my 600th group fitness class. It’s been almost 3 years and extremely transformative.
Since joining this community I’ve completed two half marathons in the past year. (I’ll be signing up for a third soon.) I’m confidently in the best shape of my life.
What surprises me most isn’t where I am.
It’s that, looking back, I have absolutely no idea how I got here.
I didn’t have a five-year fitness plan. I wasn’t trying to become “a runner.” I never had completing half marathon’s at 40 years old on the bucket list. I wasn’t really counting down to my 600th class. I paid attention to 500 but 600 just sort of showed up.
But really I just kept showing up.
Fittingly, this concept has weaved it’s way into conversation I have with many of my therapy clients over the past few weeks. I noticed this trend of: “I don’t know how to do this.”
Whether it’s changing careers, improving a relationship, managing anxiety, starting therapy, exercising consistently, or making any meaningful life change, we often believe we need to know exactly how to do things before we get started.
But that’s rarely how growth works.
You don’t have to know how you’re going to be successful.
You discover the “how” by repeatedly taking the next step.
Mental Health and Physical Health Were Never Separate
One unexpected consequence of consistently exercising wasn’t just that I became physically healthier.
I became mentally healthier too.
Not because exercise replaced therapeutic principles.
Because it changed the environment my mind existed in.
Regular exercise gave me structure which:
- improved my sleep.
- challenged my negative self talk or doubt
- introduced a supportive community
- held me accountable
- motivated me with others
- increase my faith in others by actively seeing people working toward their own goals.
None of those things cured stress.
None of them eliminated anxiety.
But together, they made me more resilient.
Exercise Isn’t Therapy
Sometimes conversations about mental health become overly simplistic.
You’ll hear people say:
“Just exercise.”
As though depression, trauma, OCD, or panic disorders can simply be run away from.
That’s not how mental health works.
Exercise is not psychotherapy.
A treadmill cannot help you process grief.
Deadlifts won’t challenge deeply rooted cognitive distortions.
A long run won’t repair childhood trauma.
There are experiences that require reflection, insight, emotional processing, and sometimes evidence-based psychotherapy or medication.
Exercise is an incredible supplemental intervention.
It’s just not the intervention.
Therapy Isn’t Just for Mental Illness Either
The opposite misconception exists too.
Many people think therapy only exists to treat disorders.
I don’t believe that’s true either.
Just as people exercise before they develop heart disease…
People can benefit from therapy before they’re in crisis.
Therapy can help you develop healthier relationships.
Increase self-awareness.
Clarify your values.
Improve communication.
Process major life transitions.
Build resilience.
Or simply become more intentional about the life you’re creating.
Sometimes therapy isn’t about fixing something that’s broken.
Sometimes it’s about building something meaningful.
Wellness Is an Interactive System
Physical health influences mental health.
Mental health influences physical health.
Better sleep improves emotional regulation.
Lower stress makes it easier to exercise.
Exercise improves confidence.
Confidence increases willingness to pursue difficult goals.
Healthy relationships improve motivation.
Purpose increases consistency.
Each area reinforces the others.
They’re less like separate buckets and more like interconnected gears.
When one begins to move, the others often become easier to move as well.
The Goal Was Never 600 Classes
If you had asked me years ago whether I’d complete 600 classes, I probably would have laughed it off.
“I’m not a joiner. I’m a solo practitioner, independently motivated man.”.. Welp… There goes that self-limiting schema.
I didn’t know how I’d get here.
I didn’t need to.
I only needed to decide on a direction.
Everything else came from showing up consistently and seeing where the journey would take me. We dictate the current but then go with flow.
One workout. One therapy session. One difficult conversation. One healthy choice.
One uncomfortable moment at a time…
can lead to some of the most meaningful changes in our lives. Success isn’t usually the result of having the perfect plan.
It’s the result of consistently becoming the kind of person who keeps moving forward
Rational Psychotherapy 