This week, I’ve started going to the gym in the morning. Let me be clear: I am not a morning person. My mama put me in the afternoon session of half-day kindergarten for this very reason, and until I went to college, I was notorious for sleeping in until 2 p.m. on weekends. But this one little action has truly triggered something special. I know, “Folks go to the gym at 6 a.m. one time and don’t know how to act!” But no, I’m serious.
Like most of us, I’m sure, my anxiety has been running rampant lately. Every day brings a new headline, seemingly worse than the one before. Add in the fact that I’m 23 years old—which, according to whom you ask is the best, weirdest or worst age—and it feels like the world is spiraling, and I’m going right with it, but recently, I had a revelation.
On the first day of my morning gym antics, I was met with a barrage of thoughts that were completely irrelevant to the two miles I was about to run. I started thinking about what I’m going to be doing five years from now; how I need to call the repair guy to fix my dryer; that I planned to invest more money in my brokerage account that morning; how that account could plummet (it actually went up, haha); and about what I would do if I didn’t have enough time to finish my workout, eat breakfast, do my morning devotional, and be at work on time, causing my entire life to just fall apart right now.
Needless to say, in the five minutes it took me to drive to my local gym, this was all going through my mind under the soundtrack of the Black Information Network blaring on my radio (I’m not even sure how I got to this station, but I don’t mind at all). The sun hadn’t even risen, and I had already lost it.
Then, a thought hit me: “Focus on what you can control and breathe through the rest.” So right there, I sat in the parking lot and counted all the things I could control. I listed everything, from something as simple as what music I listen to today and what I eat for breakfast to my reactions and attitudes toward something. Although this amount of organizing was small, it truly empowered me in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
It’s so funny how we oftentimes expect the most profound life-changing advice to be so next-level, but it’s really just something so simple and matter-of-fact.
Truth is, we can’t control what happens to us when we go to work, on our commute, what our neighbor does, what a partner does, and especially not what this presidential administration does; what we can do is find joy and peace in our life. I call them “pockets of joy”—little things to be joyous in—because joy is one of the few things that isn’t circumstantial. Happiness comes from something happening; joy is eternal.
There is so much going on in this country, especially now, that is telling us that we cannot and will not make it. I’ve already experienced and witnessed the roadblocks this administration has put on its citizens, particularly Black and brown people, but in the same breath, I’ve witnessed them rise above.
Joy is the best resistance, and it’s nothing that can be stripped away. So, start training for that 5k you’ve been thinking about, pick up that new hobby, crack open that book that’s been sitting on your nightstand, start your podcast or go to a random movie, just ’cause. This week, I saw the Minecraft movie, and when my sister asked why, I said, “Because it’s $5 Tuesdays at Cinemark, so why not?”
When you start living your life in the “why not,” you see all the limitations you place on yourself, and it becomes easier to break them. I mean, the Kiden of two weeks ago was not going to the gym at 6 a.m. In fact, without fail, at the end of my evening workouts, I’d say, “I really need to start going to the gym in the morning, but I don’t get enough sleep to do that.” Then, I realized there was actually nothing hindering me from getting enough sleep. So, I suggest that you just try focusing on what you can control yourself and seeing what happens—you might just love it.
This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
