Exercise and mental health often go hand in hand. But there is a pitfall if we oversimplify this relationship. Eric Wijewigs confirms this Senior figures in the special forces. We vote We often set our fitness goals on everyone but ourselves. Eric Therefore, resilience is the highest benefit for mental health, and it is something you have to look for within yourself, but how?
Eric is happy with the attention mental health is getting, but he also mentions the deeper layer. “Life regularly tries to throw you out of balance. Flexibility is the answer to this. To enhance mental state, exercise is highly regarded. However, the leader and philosopher finds this too simplistic. “With three hours of exercise and eight hours of sleep, you Also stuck with yourself for twelve hours a day.”
Live with yourself
In this sense, mental toughness is also about being “in tune with yourself,” and physical fitness is not always the answer to that. “You feel more resilient when you’re healthy, but just being healthy doesn’t necessarily make you feel good State of mind. I also hope that the people on the covers of MH are more than six people. Because what else makes you happy? There are people who are really fit, but are still unhappy athletes.
For example, he mentions top athletes who never finished their careers. “They no longer play sports with their own motivation as a guideline. They do it mainly to avoid not being able to define themselves as top athletes. The question is: Do you still want to achieve something, or are you mainly interested in prevention? Then completely different things happen in the motivation system.” He sees the same result among ordinary citizens, although the reason is different.
Lifehack: How do you choose your role models?
In a world dominated by social media, we project many personalities onto ourselves. As a result, we quickly lose sight of who we are. Because there are so many choices and exposure to other people that we can or want to be. “If you see someone on the cover and think: That’s how I want to look too. This is not sustainable. Because you only see one Glance Of that person. “You don’t know how he or she got there, and whether he or she is truly as happy as they seem on social media,” Eric says.
That’s why he advises you to think about yourself a lot. “Ask yourself what you are doing, and why you are doing all of this.” In this way we are able to reflect the role model. “Once you know that, you can choose a role model who has qualities you can apply to yourself. Because it fits with the goals you want to achieve. Then you are modeling it. This is considered a more effective and sustainable way of implementing a healthy lifestyle.” If you do it out of vanity, it is “Only temporary.”
Your motivation
“We are only interested in comparing ourselves to others,” he continues. It’s not surprising, because we see perfect photos pass by all the time. Given the amount of these perfect images, we also consider them very accessible. “It’s better to compare yourself to yourself,” says Eric. “Do you understand your own motivations and what values you consider important?” Even if you just want to exercise to grow healthy, it goes much further than just wanting to look like someone else.
Finally, it also emphasizes the importance of this concept for non-athletes. “Some athletes want to exercise, others want to exercise, train or do their best. That’s all good. But people who find exercise difficult think ahead: Maybe I don’t, because before I looked like this… That moment of success is so far away that it immediately holds them back. “Just start exercising first, and then your goals and motivation will come naturally,” he concludes.
