I just got back from cycling to an appointment. The strangest thing is how good it can feel to rush through the cool air while exerting to get some place… for some reason, exertion to get anywhere doesn’t sound like fun. If I just sit back and think about it, I’d rather drive and let the car do the work. But I never, never feel happy after driving, and I usually do after I cycle.

So exercise is good for mental health. It’s also good for creativity, as Ryan Holiday argues:

“[I]n my experience, the physical practice is actually quite kind to the mind. Some days, it turns it off in a very restorative way. Other days, it lets it wander and work on things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of a great line or solved an intractable writing problem after I stopped writing and went for a run or swim. I even had the idea for this article while on a run through the sleepy afternoon streets of Bastrop, Texas near my ​bookstore​. In any case, it’s a break from screens, from most inputs, and from other people.”

I used to have to walk to the bus to get to university, and those were some of the more productive writing years of my life. In addition to writing for school (and I did a history degree, which involved long paper assignments), I kept up this blog, and worked on fiction on the side. I absolutely did get ideas and inspiration while I walked home. I think the forced break of my commute, and the forced activity, did help calm my mind in a busy time, in a way that I struggled to achieve later when driving to work every day.

Recently I had a few tumultuous months, and I wanted to write more but my mind was quite burnt out. Stress had taken my thought patterns captive. The usual advice–eat well, sleep more, talk to professionals, do things you enjoy—didn’t reset my thoughts until I added the last piece: exercise. One afternoon I cycled to an appointment, and then on the way home I cycled and cycled and cycled along the river until I wasn’t thinking anymore. I was merely taking in my surroundings.

This certainly hasn’t worked for me every time, but it worked for me this time, and I’m grateful!

Now I’m trying to get more writing done again. I’ll update you on what I get out there!

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