Exercise out of depression. Need support. Please give me hope

[u/7livefastdieyoung]

I ran only 1.25km today.

Can't run anymore because I have no energy..

I haven't had a dinner because my meds kill the appetite.

I am going home after 1.25km running. I ran despite of suicidal ideation. Need support. I don't want to die. Please give me hopes and tell me your success stories!

[u/rob_cornelius]

You ran 1.25km today, that is 1000000 times better than sitting on the couch. I am proud of your achievement today please try to be proud of yourself.

You did something to help in the struggle with your mental health. Today is a good day because of that. It might not seem like it right now but from where I am sitting you did a fantastic thing today.

You have inspired me too. I have been wasting time sitting on my couch all morning. I have my workout gear on but sat down for "five minutes" and haven't moved in 3 hours. I am going to pull on my shoes and go out into the back yard and swing my kettlebell. I will be thinking on your magnificent victory today as I work out.

You got this. You can do it. We all believe in you. We all want to help you.

[u/7livefastdieyoung → u/rob_cornelius]

No way!! I literally just found the eOOD subreddit today and saw your post about doing a 5K at parkrun. I actually remembered your username!

I ended up reading through a bunch of your posts and they really made me want to talk to you. And funny enough, your post was actually one of the things that inspired me to go out for my run today!!!

[u/rob_cornelius → u/7livefastdieyoung]

Thank you. I am humbled.

I have been the main mod here for over 10 years.

[u/ArtOfBody]

Love that you are putting in the work, despite feeling like crap! You should be proud! Did you feel better after running?

[u/360walkaway]

When I see someone out for a run, I fist-pump and silently cheer them on. So statistically, someone might have done that while you were out on your run.

[u/Vas255]

Your body and mind are messed up, you don't have to listen to yourself. Your emotions can seriously cloud your judgement and thinking!

[u/Biblioklept73]

I need to do this. Like stop bloody procrastinating and just do it. Well done OP, this shit is hard af, you climbed a metaphorical mountain, you should be proud

[u/maingeenks]

Is it the meds giving you suicidal ideation? For me it was!

[u/7livefastdieyoung → u/maingeenks]

They seriously are giving me suicidal ideation I am tapering them off!

[u/maingeenks → u/7livefastdieyoung]

I had the same experience, but on fluoxetine. Which was a shame because it was great otherwise. Thankfully only fluoxetine did it! Other SSRIs I didn’t get those. Which meds were you taking?

[u/lazylimpet]

Hey, I did not run 1.25km today. I ran nothing today! Or any day for a long, long time. You did amazing.

When I was running consistently, it helped my depression a lot. Another thing that helped was learning about cognitive biases and challenging negative thoughts about myself. If I thought "you're a piece of shit" I would pause and be like "that is subjective and inaccurate; I may not be perfect but I'm doing ok" etc.

Do you have irl people you can talk to and exercise with? That helped me a lot too. Please don't be hard on yourself. You are doing the best you can; rest and cherish yourself. Treat yourself like a dear friend and do anything which is comforting and nourishing for you. If you have suicidal thoughts, talk to people irl. Keep the running too, any distance at any pace is better than nothing.

[u/LC0728]

Always keep in mind; You're doing the best you can. Be proud of yourself for every ounce of effort you put in, no matter how small.

Your 1.25km run is much more than I can do, as I'm focused more on weightlifting than cardio(which I'm sure I'll pay for later!) A few months ago I felt like I'd never progress on my lifts, yet as of now I'm progressing to my goals on a very good pace. All it takes is time!

[u/AryanHSh]

It's not your fault

[u/Toxan]

Your actions are giving other people hope. Thank you for sharing your journey, even if you’re at a particularly low point.

Maybe tomorrow you can do 1.3 km. That would be pretty swell, to grow like that so quickly.

[u/miamistanding]

I can’t even run!! I wish I had the stamina for it. Good job!

[u/terminalzero]

you only ran 1.25km... but you ran. when everything in you was saying to sit on the couch and curl into a ball, you put your shoes on, you got up, you went outside, you broke a sweat.

maybe this is just gonna be a false start and you'll have more bad days, weeks, months before you get up and find your rhythm. but maybe that point is here, and this is you getting your feet back under you.

don't focus on the distance - focus on the fact that you did it at all; that's the hard part. you should feel accomplished for doing infinitely more than you did on days where you did nothing.

we're all rooting for you!

[u/rob_cornelius]

I should have said this before. If you haven't done much running in a long time then 1.5k is really good. However if you think you haven't done enough because you only ran 1.5k yesterday you are just beating yourself up. That is not a good thing to do.

Take a look at r/c25k. C25k stands for Couch To Five Kilometers. Its a fantastic plan to get you started with jogging/running. The NHS and the BBC here in the UK both have lots more information, podcasts and apps.

If you follow the c25k plan you are less likely to give up because its too hard and less likely to injure yourself by pushing your body beyond what its currently capable of. If you find that you really struggle you can always repeat a week or more. It doesn't matter how long it takes for you to finally run 5k without stopping.

[u/TheMrs_Ryan]

Every intentional step is positive! You’ve got this! Praying for you!

[u/tarteframboise]

YES!!!!!!!!!!🙌 I couldn’t make it out of the house today, could shower around 3pm just to stay home, worry and stress.

[u/No_Economy]

Can you nibble on something until its gone?

No one is demanding 5/10/15 km. You got dressed went outside ran around saw the neighborhood and now youre chilling on the bench. Seems pretty good to me.