0:00

I would like people to read this Memoir who are struggling or who are curious

0:07

about running because it really is a running book too it's a mental health book and especially somebody who has

0:13

touched the darkness who's been close because people who haven't might not get

0:20

it and they might I mean I've had comments where people say oh my gosh I can't you know I'm so glad I'm not her

0:28

and hey that's I sometimes wished I wasn't me too I mean really my brain is

0:34

the the first line the first line in the book is my mind was trying to kill me

0:40

[Music]

0:47

again greetings hello good day wherever you are in the world thank you for joining true Hope cast the official

0:53

podcast of true hope Canada in true hope Canada we are a mind and body based supplement company that is dedicated

0:59

first and foremost to promoting brain and body Health through non-invasive nutritional means for more information

1:04

about us you can visit trop canada.com if you're listening on iTunes please leave us a review and don't forget to

1:10

subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes today I've got the pleasure of welcoming Nita Sweeney to

1:16

the show now Nita is an award-winning Wellness author of the running and mental health Memoir depression hate to

1:22

moving Target how running with my dog bought me back from the brink Nita is a

1:27

meditation leader a mental health advocate and an ultra marathoner today we're going to discuss how people can

1:34

find their motivation to get moving to support their mental health enjoy the show all right good morning Nita welcome

1:42

to True Hope cast really appreciate you taking the time today how are you what is going

1:48

well I'm doing really well I'm excited to be here to have this chat with you and you know talk to your audience all

1:55

of that so it's good good thank you yeah sharing stories meting new people it's

2:01

just incredible that we can utilize platforms like this to be able to have conversations you're in Ohio I'm in

2:08

London you know it's just uh it's quite remarkable how uh how we're able to um

2:14

have these conversations and share so much different unique information and it's it's an absolute pleasure to be

2:20

able to do it so just as an introduction could you just um let us know who you are and what it is that you

2:26

do well I'm an author that's the main thing I do and I wrote a book called depression

2:32

hates a moving Target how running with my dog brought me back from the brink I have a new book coming out in um August

2:40

uh make every move a meditation mindful movement for mental health well-being and insight I write about running um

2:49

meditation mental health dogs I also um do Writing Practice which is kind of a

2:56

form of meditation so I guess I'm a mental health Advocate that's that's probably the umbrella label goes over

3:02

everything but U yeah but mostly I'm an author so I write stuff okay so how did

3:08

you become a mental health Advocate you know I think that everybody uh could serve themselves at least by doing so

3:14

but you know a lot of people who go through something in their lives um end

3:19

up using that experience to positively impact people going forward with their story with an outlet like a book or a

3:26

podcast or something like that so how did you come to I mean this incredible Title by the way for the for the book I

3:32

mean we'll get on to how you came up with that because it's incredibly incredibly captivating in

3:38

regards to whereb it takes my mind when I just even read that Target because yeah that that makes that makes so much

3:44

sense depression hates to moving Target it's beautiful um so why don't you tell us how you became a mental health

3:50

Advocate take us through that initial Journey well the book did it it wasn't

3:57

my plan I just wanted to write books put them out in the world and people started

4:03

reading it and started hearing about my story and could relate because as you

4:09

say almost anybody who's had a difficult time A Mental Health

4:15

crisis um could call themselves an advocate if they start helping others and so it's when I realized that the

4:22

story that I shared was helping other people that I decided to call myself a mental health Advocate there's not a

4:28

certificate for that that I know of or if there is I don't have it but I had to

4:34

find a way to explain what I was doing because I write about a lot of different

4:40

things and have for many years but there's always been that angle of being

4:46

a woman who lives with depression a woman who has bipolar disorder who has struggled to try to do a lot of things

4:55

failed many times and then finally had this big success

5:00

especially when we get to talking about the running the way that really changed my life and so being out in the public

5:06

doing things like this podcast and writing uh guest posts for other people

5:11

being in magazines things like that that all when that all um started to stick I

5:18

realized that it was more than just little Nita in central Ohio telling her story it was about a bigger message of

5:25

Hope for other people so you've experienced kind like what you're doing yeah certainly right facilitating

5:32

conversation and it's it can just be so powerful to to so many different people even if one person connects with it and

5:38

maybe makes a different has a different thought process in their life and feels and behaves in a different way it's very

5:45

very positive so you've experienced mental health challenges in the in the past and we'll get into it but running

5:53

and exercising and moving your body seemed to be a way out of it and then you had this incredible um cre ative

5:59

experience to write this Memoir and share these stories and write blogs and do all this and obviously you know you're into into your second book so

6:06

you're continuing this creative process and I'm sure that creative process is

6:11

supporting you just like the running was would I be right in saying

6:17

that um a creative Outlet when I'm in the writing yeah when I'm in the writing

6:24

process yes I write um for myself first

6:29

and then figure out is this something anybody wants to read so that writing for yourself process is very cathartic

6:37

and therapeutic the promotion and Publishing process is not always as therapeutic

6:45

because it's really competitive it's really really really competitive the book market and um you know so I'm I'm

6:52

constantly constantly feels like I'm um just trying to get myself out there

6:59

partly for the message but partly because I do want people to read what I'm writing because that's sort of why

7:05

that's part of why you write um so it's kind of a mix it's kind of a mix and that's why I think it's been so

7:10

important for me to focus on the people listening the audience and who might be

7:16

helped by this because when I start focusing too much on myself um I can get

7:22

you know impostor syndrome I can get a lot of paranoia but if I keep in mind the people that might resonate you the

7:29

message might resonate with or who just might be having a really bad day and something I say makes them laugh or

7:35

smile anything like that uh I keep my mind there and that that really helps so

7:42

wonderful yeah I when I think of depression or anxiety or moments in my life when I've I've experienced some

7:48

sort of level of it I think about the like the cyclical thoughts that that happen that like keep coming back and

7:54

ruminating and getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and I'm I'm using a very specific part of my brain to keep

8:01

me thinking in a certain way which keeps me feeling in a specific way and then I will exhibit behaviors depending on

8:09

those thoughts and feelings so just exercising is going to start using

8:14

different parts of your brain and your body and writing is going to do exactly the same type of thing so being able to find some sort of Outlet whether that is

8:21

moving your body or writing or artwork or something like that being able to access different parts of your brain and

8:28

literally sparking new chemical um connections without question is going to

8:34

really help Kickstart somebody out of that depressive mindset

8:40

and when I was reading your bio before we before we agreed to to um meet up and

8:45

do this podcast you mentioned in um one of your posts that your one of your

8:51

motivations to start running was from a middle-aged friend of yours and it made

8:56

me think about there's a lot of Mo if you want really wanted to find it there's a lot of motivation on let's

9:01

just say social media on Instagram or Facebook but we don't necessarily know those people really you know and but you

9:08

you were motivated by a friend you know so do you think that what helped you

9:13

take that leap was because it was an actual friend of yours that you knew um or you know do you think you

9:20

would have had the same effect stranger no I think it had to be

9:26

somebody I knew and that's I think that's probably because of my personality I tend to have a very close

9:32

circle of friends and you know tight family and she was somebody and also it

9:38

was because she was so much like me we were about the same age I think she's

9:44

said maybe six to nine months older than me neither one of us were athletic in school and not really in our adult lives

9:53

and she had over the years gained weight the way I had and so I just

9:59

felt this kinship with her and then was really startled when she started running

10:07

that was that was just not in the picture that I had of her at all and so I watched for a while I wasn't

10:14

immediately inspired at first I really thought we should be concerned and we should do like a wellness check on her

10:20

or something I I was because she posted call me crazy but this running is

10:25

getting to be fun and I had never really seen any anything about running as fun I

10:32

had tried to run when I was younger basically sprinted is what I know I was doing um now I realize that's what I was

10:38

doing was actually sprinting and so when I saw that I just it caught my attention

10:44

because it's this person I know and suddenly there's something that seems so out of character so I watched her for a

10:49

while before it actually inspired me and then things going on in my own life um

10:55

whereas my mood was spiraling down I was in a really bad grief cycle and I have

11:02

you know I've suffered from chronic depression for many years but I was in a really bad depressive episode in a grief cycle and um and so just the day came

11:11

when I remembered her and I had this maybe even a little bit of fomo you know fear of missing out she's doing

11:17

something that maybe could help me and you know it's it's hard people ask me

11:23

people tend to come to me and they say oh my sister needs to read your book or oh I wish my mom would read your book or

11:29

and I I mean I hope that they will but the thing that has to change is inside

11:35

me and that's what happened that day was like all the things came together and I got brave enough to go outside and give

11:43

it a try yeah but yeah I don't know I you

11:49

know you I mean when I see um models actresses actors on the covers

11:56

of magazines or Instagram influ influencers there's some of them I can relate to but mostly I just think oh

12:04

that's kind of pretty to look at I mean that's just me again um but this was a person I had known for many many years

12:13

and I did I do think that made a difference I for me it did I think so it

12:19

it sounds like you're saying that you saw no you you did say this that you saw a lot of yourself within this individual

12:26

and you were very surprised by what this individual was doing because you probably weren't doing that yourself at

12:31

the time and you couldn't see yourself doing that but looking at this other person just just amazing and I really

12:37

think I think you hit it there with with the the the actors and the actresses and the celebrities and the the influencers

12:43

on Instagram I think it's there's so much um it's just surface value like it's not really there's no substance

12:50

there but when you're able to internalize what somebody else is

12:55

doing that you have a some sort of connection with whether that is a friend or who's similar to you I think that

13:01

holds a lot more of a you know a deep visceral um something that yeah does

13:06

begin to spark that change rather than a lot of people who go on Instagram and swipe and you know check all this stuff

13:13

out and look at all these images and these videos you know it's very like surface level interest and if anything

13:18

it might actually contribute to more an anxieties because you you might not have

13:25

what you're seeing or depression you don't have what you're not doing what these other people people are doing and

13:30

there's confusion there because is it really genuine is it filtered is it edited is it you know it's it's just yeah it's just kind of icky to think

13:37

about really but when you are you know seeing what one of your friends is doing that's really inspirational it's really

13:44

different because it's real it's it's there's reality there it's connection yeah I think especially at

13:50

that time in my life most of social media was a real turnoff because I was

13:57

doing so much comp caring and I won't I mean I'm sort of an influencer now I'm

14:04

in that whole world and so I'm kind of careful to you know to not say anything bad about influencers but you're right A

14:11

lot of it is um questioning when I'm looking at this is that what this person

14:17

really looks like because I know that I'm going to give you the best photo of me I mean I'm off to take some head shot

14:23

for a big kind of thing this afternoon and you know she's going to take aund photos and we're going to narrow it down

14:29

to about three that look really good because that's what we can do on social media um but yeah there was just for me

14:36

something about it being someone I knew and thinking eventually not right at

14:41

first but eventually after watching her following her story for a while thinking

14:48

maybe if she can do this I can too and again I want to be I want to be careful

14:54

because I have some very serious mental health issues that I live with with and

14:59

so someone else who doesn't live with that kind of um deficit of happy brain

15:05

chemicals um all the time might not see it quite that same way but that trust

15:11

level needed to be there for me because I was in that dark place where I was

15:16

only compare I wasn't even comparing I was contrasting about how different I was how that wouldn't work for me how oh

15:24

my gosh that's not I can't even try that that just sounds exhausting you know those kinds of things I was just at that

15:29

level and so maybe somebody who's not at that level is just having a string of

15:35

bad days that might be that might work for them I don't know but I you're right

15:40

I needed that connection where it was somebody I knew I trusted and she wasn't photoshopping anything and she was out

15:46

there running and wow it blew me away is this friend aware of the

15:54

influence that she's had on you she is now yes I

16:00

um when did I tell her um her it's very sad actually her brother who was she was

16:09

like the class ahead of me and her brother was the class behind and he had a brain tumor and ultimately died of

16:15

brain the can I think it was a cancer tumor um and her uh sister-in-law so his

16:22

wife started a 5k charity 5k for it was

16:28

before he um before he died she started it and we met up for that and I

16:33

explained to her that you know she had been the one to be that inspiration I did use her name I'm pretty sure I think

16:41

I just used her first name in the um her name was Kim in the book and so she

16:46

probably knew because the timing was right and the phrase was right you know

16:52

call me crazy but this running is getting to be fun and so uh I don't you know I didn't mean to put any pressure

16:58

on or anything and I don't think I did I think she's she's the kind of person that would just love it and let anything

17:03

roll off but it was it was very important and so I think the message or the takeaway from that is you don't ever

17:10

know who's watching you know you don't know um when not that we have to be all

17:17

concerned and be a good example every minute but when you do something that may seem small to you may

17:26

seem like just something you did on a lark you never know when somebody who really needs to see that or hear that is

17:34

going to receive that message and that's what happened with me and it could have been um some other person I'd had so

17:41

many people tell me over the years oh exercise will help and I had um

17:47

experiences where I did try different things but I could never stick with it

17:53

partly because of the recurring depression but partly because I just don't think it was the right thing for me I'm I'm not your Zumba Queen you know

18:01

I'm not a a the stair stepper person I'm not I just had to have a thing that that

18:06

really fit me and running did uh for whatever reason even though I'm you know I don't I still don't look like a lot of

18:13

the runners that I see if you if you look at the influencers in the running

18:19

Community oh my gosh you know they're the tiny little people with these wiry bodies and they're running three times

18:24

as fast as me um but I don't care and I have found have found my people we call

18:30

ourselves the back of the Packers because we are we're the ones at the back of the pack and we just have a

18:36

really good time and enjoy it and we're still competitive we're competitive with each other but um but you know you have

18:41

to kind of find the tribe so she was the right person it was the right time in my life it was the right activity it just

18:49

felt like a whole bunch of things came together um that made me willing to

18:55

leash up my dog carry a digital timer because the the training plan said jog

19:00

for 60 seconds that was the other thing I think if it had said run or had said

19:05

62 seconds I mean I really just the 60 seconds jog um I felt like you know I

19:12

think I can do that on this particular day and so we went down into this Ravine area where there's the houses are set

19:19

way back because it's a flood plane so there's no houses down there um so I thought nobody could see me of course

19:25

mind you it's a weekday so and I live in this kind of bedroom community so there's nobody here

19:31

anyway but I had a little bit of paranoia and uh you know I didn't have I didn't have the right clothes and I'm

19:37

overweight you know I'm in well I'm not I was a larger person uh than what I had

19:43

seen in the running the anything running I had seen and so I had a lot of uh

19:48

fears about what other people would think of me and I the dog was a decoy because they would think oh she's just

19:53

walking the dog and U down we went but it it took that combination of all those things to get me into the Ravine where

20:01

things really started to change so yeah everything needed to be right and that's

20:06

that's okay I think that the um example of of what Kim did for you is a great

20:12

example of how we can influence people from all over the place in many

20:19

different ways just by our own actions and behaviors and we're not necessarily doing those things to do that to not

20:26

doing these things to influence other people but that energy and that frequency is is you know you can feel

20:32

that and it's it's exciting and it's can really Influence People in a very very positive way so it's yeah it's a really

20:37

great way really really good idea to take these things on board and you know

20:43

try and live your life with a lot of positivity and trying to do these things to not necessarily for yourself but to

20:50

influence other people because trying to change somebody and trying to get them to read that book or do this or do that

20:56

it's very it's not it's very rare that that type of approach really really works people have to have this intrinsic

21:03

experience in order to really begin the process of of doing things a little bit

21:09

differently to start experiencing the benefits of something like you know running or exercise but um the me the

21:15

Memoir I'm going to read the title out again depression hates a moving Target how running with my dog brought me back

21:21

from the brink first of all tell me about that tell me about how that title came about and um who do you think

21:28

should read this Memoir I'll start with the second

21:35

question I would like people to read this Memoir who are struggling or who

21:42

are curious about running because it really is a running book too it's a mental health book and especially

21:48

somebody who has touched the darkness who's been close because people who

21:54

haven't might not get it and they might I mean I had comments where people say

22:00

oh my gosh I can't you know I'm so glad I'm not her and hey that's I sometimes

22:07

wished I wasn't me too I mean really my brain is the the first line the first line in the book is my mind was trying

22:14

to kill me again that's the first sentence in the book and that's kind of been my life so the title comes

22:23

from I I'm sure it's not original but I must have heard it somewhere

22:29

and friends of mine and I who also struggle with depression or you know the

22:35

the depressive episodes of bipolar disorder would call each other at different times for support and I just

22:43

it popped in my head when we were we were looking for alternate titles because the working title was like 26

22:49

Point freaking two it wasn't wasn't a great title it was just a working title so my friend and I would talk about

22:56

these struggles and we would say kind of laughing well you know depression hates

23:02

a moving Target we should be doing something and that particular day when

23:07

she couldn't get out of bed that's just what I said and I said Just remember

23:13

depression hates a moving Target just get out of bed I'm going to hang up and I'll call you call me back when you're

23:20

out of bed and then she did and we just worked through the day and I'd had people do that same thing for me where I

23:26

was just in such a low dark place and they may not have said that exact phrase but that really stuck in my head

23:33

and so when the editor wanted some really good options for titles that was

23:39

the first thing I suggested I said I think this is it and she agreed that it was it because it has the motion it has

23:45

um I don't know it's just it it says so much it's very interesting because it doesn't it didn't translate into Korean

23:51

at least when they did the the book has been translated into Korean and they changed the title um because I think

23:57

it's uh I don't know if it's an idiom but you know it's like a it's is

24:02

symbolic it has meaning that you get from the language that we understand

24:08

what a moving Target is and um that so so that's where it came from yeah and

24:14

I'm really glad they used it I think it it just fit the book and the experience

24:21

though I think it's I think it's a mantra I think it's something that people could be saying to themselves on a daily basis when they're starting to

24:27

feel low like I've got two young kids and sometimes my 2-year-old is in the

24:32

room next to me and it's 5:30 and he is just like yelling for me and all I want

24:39

is 30 more minutes in bed and I honestly think now just like retrospectively looking back at it I should just get up

24:44

and get moving like the the worst thing is to sit there for another 30 minutes while he goes off and I start swirling

24:51

the thoughts around in my head it's going to RI me up even more I'm going to use that tomorrow morning I hope I don't

24:57

have to use it but it's it's going to be a little mantro I've got so I appreciate that that's one thing I'm going to be certainly going to be taking from this

25:03

this episode today um how would you recommend that the

25:09

unmotivated can begin to find

25:15

motivation small steps Tiny Steps making

25:21

goals so tiny that you can't fail jog for 60 seconds that was mine

25:28

so it might be somebody wants to write a book set a timer 10 minutes go just

25:36

download your thoughts um but I have um

25:41

kind of the disease of overwhelm and I also have a lot of ideas and so I have

25:46

to pick one very specific thing and narrow it down to a time period

25:54

preferably that is identifiable so a concrete time period it's cuz kind of creates a little pressure cooker effect

26:01

I'm only going to do this for five minutes I'm only going to jog for 60 seconds um that's how I started

26:07

meditating was five minutes at a time and then what happened for me was the um

26:16

little dopamine hit I got from achieving the tiny thing I said I was going to do

26:22

those build over time now it also helped me that I had that training plan that my

26:28

friend was following she had an interval training plan and it's called couch to 5K is the one she used um because I

26:37

ended up printing it out and then I would come home when I had done I think there were three workouts a week I'd

26:43

done the workout I'd come home and make a little check mark next to it and then I would not have to decide what to do

26:49

the next time because it was already it was already written out for me so if you can find some kind of plan that gives

26:56

you a little bit of structure especially if you're in overwhelm that can help

27:01

pull you through because you don't have to decide what to do next you just do what's on the plan and um like I said

27:09

that that really helped me um Community helped me at first I was not um

27:16

courageous or informed enough to join a running Community um and so I got online

27:25

and was able to hide behind a you know um uh the keyboard and such and

27:34

eventually I did join an in-person community and now I know oh it's

27:39

Wednesday they're going to be running tonight I guess I'll join them and we kind of look out for each other and we

27:46

share information people who've done things I haven't yet will tell me how they did it it's a you know it's a

27:52

community it's like a fellowship a support in the community so if you can find a community that's really help F if

27:59

you get stuck ask for help there are coaches there are other people who've

28:05

done this before I just I don't think there's hardly anything there are very few things that have never been done

28:11

before and so um uh so find somebody who's done it and tell them what's going

28:17

on and see if they can help you with whatever is getting you stuck those are

28:22

those are kind of the I guess the the big ones for me was that um tiny tiny

28:28

tiny goals having some kind of structure for me it was a plan that I literally printed out and put on the side I tape

28:34

it to the side of my bookcase um the community and then experts I you I go to

28:42

a running store to get shoes or I go online to a running website to get shoes because I want to know what the best

28:48

thing is for my feet so it's like you you know going to a specialist and there are people out there that can help the

28:54

same thing with mental health issues it's like don't be afraid to ask for help because at some point I mean I

29:00

don't just run running is one tool in a very large Hefty toolkit I have of

29:08

mental health tools and those include for me therapy medication uh a support

29:15

network and meditation and a regular Writing Practice I have all of those

29:21

things and it always feels like I never know which one is going to work and so I

29:28

have them all at the ready in case I need them and I try to keep them all in

29:34

rotation too because it just I go I things just go better when I sort of have all of that going and then once you

29:41

get in motion I mean we're fighting inertia that's the biggest thing we're just fighting inertia so once you get in

29:46

motion the um scientific force is that you will stay in motion but it's getting

29:53

in motion that that's the hard part and that just takes a tiny thing just a tiny

29:59

little push did those three factors build on each other you know like starting small

30:05

and having a plan um and then it kind of gives you the confidence know you you

30:11

talking about you know you were trying to find an environment where no one would see you running you know like that's you know that's starting small

30:17

that builds the confidence up to join a running group and then you know once you you know start doing that a little bit

30:23

more then you've got the more confidence to ask for some support and expert opinion did those three things kind of

30:29

BU build on top of each other for you yes first off the training plan

30:36

built it the way it was structured so you very gradually

30:41

increased the amount of time running versus the amount of time walking

30:46

because that's what it was it was an interval plan so you ran a little walk a little ran a little walk a little and it gradually increase the amount of running

30:53

time and there are train uh there are plans training plans where you gradually

30:58

increase the speed or the intensity or you know things like that so that was actually built into that plan but yes as

31:07

I um the the first indicator was that I told people because I didn't even tell

31:13

my husband when I picked up that Digital Timer he was at work and I I was

31:18

probably a couple weeks before I said oh by the way while here at work I'm out talking in the neighborhood it also took

31:25

me a little while to get out of the Ravine there the Ravine is not very long it's maybe I'm not sure it's even

31:31

quarter of a mile but for a while I would just go back and forth in the Ravine I wouldn't even you know i' get to the top of the hill where the houses

31:37

were and I'd go nope and turn around and go back and so that took a little while for me to build up just the confidence

31:44

to even um I call it running in public um and then this is sort of a leap which

31:50

if you don't have a sister this isn't going to help but when I told people um

31:57

I told my husb husband first and then my sister um I'd had that year I don't

32:03

think I talked about it specifically I had a year a couple years before I started running where seven people and a

32:09

cat died and two of those people one was my 24 year-old niece one was my mother

32:16

and it was my niece's cat my father-in-law so that was seven different people this is a horrible year

32:21

and so after I started running I told my sister who was the mother of the niece

32:27

it was her only child who had died of cancer and so she was in this group that was doing uh fundraising for research

32:35

for the cancer that type of cancer and so they they were having a 5k oh my gosh

32:41

and so she emailed me or she might have called me I forget and said hey let's do this and I went no I'm a private Runner

32:49

I don't run in public I just was I mean I couldn't even imagine leaving the neighborhood by then I you know I was so

32:55

brave to run in front of houses um but I got over myself is essentially what

33:01

happened I realized this is this cause is so much bigger than you and your little paranoia and um I mean it felt

33:07

big it felt big inside me but I I did eventually do that and that was huge

33:15

because it blew away all the misconceptions I'd had about what a

33:20

runner looks like and who a runner can be and who can participate in these charity events and what people wait

33:28

um whether the bib goes on the front of the back I mean with all kinds of things that that I didn't know and so that

33:36

gradual building um which ultimately led to the 5K which then led to the in-person group

33:42

that was after the 5K I uh you know joined this in-person group and then

33:49

that build because this is another cliche you probably heard of but if you hang around a barber shop long enough

33:55

you're going to get a haircut you hang around with Marathon long enough eventually you're going to sign up for

34:00

the Columbus marathon and that's you know that's what happened that's their normal that's their normal so it's um

34:07

it's the kind of thing where you're with these people who are just very casually talking about running these distances

34:13

that seem unfathomable and um before you know it you're well I was anyway maybe it's just

34:20

me I don't know I know a lot of people that that's the way it works though you start with a half marathon and then oh

34:25

let's do a marathon and now we're doing ultas let's go run 31 miles in the woods looking for snack tents you

34:32

know for fun it's a great Testament to that to

34:37

that type of building block process getting those foundations right and it's a very interesting uh just you telling

34:44

me about the you know your very internal experience at the beginning of getting

34:50

out of your own head and then beginning to run and you're in this Ravine so you're still kind of like internalized

34:56

hiding yourself and then as you get more confident and your skill builds you start climbing out of the Ravine and

35:02

then you're running around now you doing marathons like that's just amazing I think it's a very interesting um me

35:08

metaphor I suppose how you know you're running in a ravine still kind of like trapped in your own mind a little bit and then boom here we go I think that's

35:15

very very cool what what would you say to people who don't like running like

35:21

who just like I know you you don't have to run

35:26

suppose yeah you don't you don't have to run you don't really I really think that

35:33

um he is just getting your heart rate up a little bit and there's actually a lot of research on it that there are certain

35:40

types of activity that are more helpful than others for uh depression but pretty

35:46

much any movement a gentle walk some

35:51

stretching lifting tiny weights slow jogging any of it it uh

35:58

they have done research that shows that it produces the happy brain chemicals

36:03

and that's what you want you want the Happy brain chemicals and then I don't know that they've studied this but the

36:11

sense of accomplishment of Nita said she'd do something and she did it

36:16

because Nita said she'd do a lot of things that she couldn't do and didn't do because of her you know of the

36:23

depression I'm talking myself in the third person but I did said I was going to or tried to do a lot of things that I

36:29

really couldn't do and so that sense of accomplishment builds as well I think it

36:37

all ties together for me and then of course the community isolation is huge

36:43

um factor for factor for suicide quite frankly but it's a huge factor for

36:49

mental health problems and a huge factor that we've dealt with during the pandemic is isolation and loneliness and

36:56

so if you can find a community even if it's online of people that do the same whether it's you know even have to call

37:02

it a sport same movement form that you do then you suddenly have a Common

37:07

Language and that's a community that's a tribe you have inside jokes and you

37:13

laugh with each other about your certain little inside jokes that the you know the pickle ball people have theirs and

37:18

the runners have theirs and all of that so I you don't it's very funny because another podcaster was he said it a

37:25

different way he just kept saying well I just don't like I just don't understand the running I just don't like I just don't see and he would just tell me all

37:31

the reasons running was awful and I just said to him Dan you might not be a runner you know it's okay you know I'm

37:38

not saying everybody has to be Runner that's just what worked for me because I tried the mini trampoline I had all the

37:45

gym memberships I was the you know took the dance CL I tried so many different things the weight machines I still kind

37:51

of like w machines but um and should do them more but uh but nothing's stuck and

37:56

it's been more than 10 years now and I'm still running and still want to run have days

38:03

I don't want to of course um it was hailing the other day I was like what

38:08

it's April it's not supposed to be hailing here but it was hailing and I didn't like that very much but you know

38:15

I'm ready to go again and it's time I'm signed up for races and yeah that helps

38:21

that's other thing about running is that um you can sign up for races and that

38:27

gives you do kind of something to draw you uh toward so you have that goal that

38:32

kind of pulls you toward it because you have this race to train for and that sometimes some having money on the line

38:39

uh betting uh I I know some friends that like bet each other oh you can't you know you can't work your way up to a

38:45

full one minute Plank and then you got you got 60 days to do it I'll bet you 10 bucks that kind I mean you figure out

38:51

what works for you that's not my thing but yeah but yeah you might not be a runner it's okay yeah that's of options

38:58

out there for people and I think it's um what does that what does that run or

39:04

what does that jog mean and what can it offer you like I've I've never been a fan of like going out and running on my

39:09

own but you know I've been playing team sports my whole life and I know big soccer player and um I love the idea of

39:16

going out there and running with a purpose or for the ball or for whatever you know I'm not sure but before having

39:22

kids the idea of going out and running on my own was like I just was not interested whatsoever but now it's like

39:28

it's a great 20 minutes for me to clear my head get my heart rate up um shift

39:34

literally shift my energy in my body and you know take you know just just change things up

39:39

completely and um it's a really great way for me to actually start focusing on my breath because you know I I really

39:46

like to focus and do lots of breath training and when I I know I just do 20 minutes and it's really slow pace it's

39:51

more about it's more about having very deliberate conscious breath for 20 minutes you know which can be absolutely

39:57

game changer for for many different parts of your health that's what running means to me but in the two years I've

40:04

had two two three years where I've had children like that my my approach to running and my belief my beliefs around

40:10

running as well have completely changed because it means something very different to me than it did three years ago and I think that as we get older and

40:18

things change and we go through different experiences something like running which for a lot of people is just like not in no interest it can be

40:26

an absolute Game Changer because it's so unbelievably accessible it's literally you know step outside or just stand up

40:32

and start moving your body up and down you know it's like super accessible and it's just a great way to um just change

40:39

your frequency and change your energy I think it's great what um how does meditation for you fit fit into all of

40:45

this because you know you have a lot of people do different types of exercise and they go into some sort of like you

40:50

know a trance State and their their brain is doing very very deliberate things and we mentioned the breath a second ago so what is how does medit fit

40:57

into all of this for you well I actually have been meditating

41:04

much longer three times as long as I've been running and I do Insight or uh Vasa

41:10

meditation so it's about keeping your mind in the present moment as opposed to

41:16

um altering your mind state which is another form of meditation perfectly fine but the typei practice we're not

41:22

trying to change anything um the byproduct is change that's the end

41:28

result but that's not necessarily the motive that motive in this type of

41:33

meditation can actually become a hinderance because then you are attached to a certain outcome so how I

41:40

Incorporated it into running I realized pretty quickly that I was naturally

41:47

falling into a meditative kind of a focus calm concentrated State when I was

41:54

running that was just sort of happening naturally and as I know now from some research I've done meditation is

42:00

actually a natural mind State most people fall in and out of it all the time um and my goal is to help people do

42:07

it on purpose so I happen to have a congenital defect in my left ankle I

42:14

call it my wonky ankle and as a result of that I have Sensations more

42:19

Sensations in my left foot than in my right foot and I use that as my object

42:24

of meditation so when I'm running you know sometimes I I don't pay attention to it at all but if I'm looking for a

42:31

way to focus or especially if I'm doing long M long miles and I want something

42:36

to kind of bring me back in the moment something that's familiar I can focus on I just notice what what my foot feels

42:42

like um is it hot is it cold is it tingling is does it sting is it Pleasant unpleasant neutral and I just bring my

42:50

mind back and I don't berate myself for my mind Wandering Minds generate

42:55

thoughts that's what that's their job and I gently bring my mind back and so

43:00

that's kind of my go-to but some days I mean when when I live in like I said I live in central Ohio and it's gorgeous

43:08

here in the spring there's all these blooming trees and it's it's just lovely and so some days I just want to look at

43:14

the color pink and so I just notice the colors of pink and fuchsia and you know

43:19

pale pink U cotton candy pink anything this as I'm running along and I always I

43:24

always say safety first so pay attention to your surroundings make sure you're not running in front of cars or to you

43:30

know running over toddlers or things like that but um but that's just becomes my object of meditation and it's a very

43:37

simple formula of just choosing an object of meditation choosing a time

43:42

period so sometimes I'll just say I'm just going to meditate for the first mile or I'm going to meditate um I do

43:49

run walk sometimes and so I'm just going to meditate during the walk portion um

43:54

but sometimes I do it for the whole run too it just depends depends on what my goal is for that particular workout kind

44:01

of where I am in my life I just feel better when I keep my head where my body is because so much of the time

44:07

especially in our culture we spend in our heads we spend thinking and usually it's it's daydreaming or it's sometimes

44:15

it's um frustration about the past it could be resentment or um regret about the past or when I go in the future

44:23

there is some fun planning but often it's anxiety I'm worried about the way something's going to go in the future

44:29

and so if I can bring myself back to what's actually happening in my body or with my thoughts right now right in this

44:37

moment invariably I calm down I you know the heart rate drops the blood pressure

44:43

drops and the interesting thing is when you're doing any kind of um physical

44:48

activity especially something where even though I'm not um you I'm not trying to

44:54

win the race I do want to do well if I use less energy

45:01

mentally I have more energy physically so if I'm not spending the whole run

45:07

agitated about um you know worried about something that's going to happen in the future or thinking about something that

45:13

happened in the past if I can be keep my mind relaxed and in this moment I tend

45:19

to do better um or I tend to accept whatever happens which also I do better

45:24

so that's the way it works for me and the great thing is is it carries over into the rest of your life because if

45:30

you can learn how to meditate when you're um you know playing a sport running exercising doing push-ups

45:38

sit-ups playing laser tag whatever you can meditate when you're walking down the hallway you can meditate when you're

45:45

in a big meeting with your boss I mean you can be present because that's what it really is for me it's just being

45:51

right where you're at and being with the people you're with

45:57

yeah being able to take even if it's 5 to 10 minutes of separating your kind of mind from your body because a lot of the

46:02

time our body is just carrying up carrying ourselves through the world and through our days through these kind of

46:08

like habitual what habitual lives that we lead and I think yeah just for me like the the running and just I'm just

46:15

focusing on my breathing and you know I'm allowing my body to kind of make sure I'm in a safe environment but just

46:21

focusing in my breeding allows my mind to not really wander anywhere off and wonderand elsewhere

46:27

so yeah for me that is a without question one of the big benefits of running for me is like being able to

46:34

clear my mind for like 10 to 20 minutes and to have a kind of a little bit of a reset and yeah I love the idea of like

46:41

body scanning as a meditation as well I think we very very rarely check in with our physical body like being able to

46:47

learn how to put your attention on your small small right toe or your lower back

46:52

or your upper spine can be really beneficial and can really open your eyes up to where you might be holding aches

46:59

and pains and you know you can put some attention on that you can start putting some energy there you know there's a lot of science that shows that you can heal

47:06

a lot of things by you know being able to meditate effectively and put your Consciousness and your awareness on

47:11

different parts of your body that might be causing you some problems but um yeah that's amazing just coming to coming to

47:17

the end N I really appreciate your time today can you just finish up and let us know how can people connect with you and

47:23

you know maybe get a digital or a um in-person copy of your book inperson

47:30

copy is a bit strange but you know you know what I mean physical the physical

47:37

book they can see me in person in Columbus Ohio yes the best place to find

47:42

me online is ny.com it's n we NE y.com I assume he'll have it in

47:50

the show notes or you can see my name here and on that P on that website

47:56

there's also a free ebook which is uh a digital download it's called three ways to heal your mind and it talks about the

48:03

three kind of things three of the tools I talked about today um the books are for sale there and then I love this very

48:11

early in my publication journey I asked my editor um where the best place was

48:16

for people to buy books because it has a we have an ebook a um paperback and then

48:22

we have the audio book also and um and she said oh just tell them wherever fine

48:28

books are sold so that's where you can find my books is wherever fine books are sold so that might be Amazon that might

48:35

be Barnes & Noble it might be books and Company it might be you know scrib I mean whatever wherever you like to buy

48:42

books that's the best place um and the library too ask your library to get it

48:47

that's totally totally great we uh we love having the book in libraries it's it's in a bunch of different libraries

48:53

so and I have I actually have three books I didn't talk about the second one the writing journal so um I have the

48:59

Memoir depression hates and moving Target a writing journal which is blank pages for you to fill with your thoughts

49:05

and then the third one that's coming out that I'm really exciting excited about is a kind of a howto called make every

49:12

move a meditation and it's about how to meditate while you move any movement form so yeah ny.com go there and I will

49:21

I will respond to your emails I have a newsletter too if you want to hear from me more often

49:27

beautiful well we will make sure that all of those links are available in the show notes so people can access that but

49:33

again I really want to appreciate I really appreciate your time today Nita thank you so much thank you this has been great

49:40

thanks for good questions that makes it makes it so much easier yeah I know I had a great conversation it was a lot of

49:45

fun um all right that is it for this episode of True Hope cast thank you so

49:50

much everybody for listening again everything you need to connect with need will be in the show notes don't forget

49:56

to subscribe if you haven't yet if you are listening on iTunes take two minutes leave a review very very helpful um but

50:03

that's it we'll see you next week everyone bye

50:08

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