20251015_Push&PullDays_pen

Working out is a surefire way to reduce mental stress. This is scientifically proven, and I've experienced it myself every single time.

One of the most popular routines regular gym goers follow is called 'push-pull-legs'. It consists of a 6 days per week regime where one exercises with push movements on one day, pull movements the next, legs for the third, and then repeats the cycle with the 7th as rest day.

It's really important that we alternate between these movements, because our muscles needs rest from just using one type of movement.

So that's the physical covered.
Now here's a question for the mental.
Have you ever noticed that dealing with or engaging with other's problems reduces the potency of our own problems?

I'm not talking about doomscrolling through social media to know about the wars of terror, the surge of living costs, the caste-based oppression, the indifferences of religion, the explosion of new trends and the unique deaths of the past. That's just surface level knowledge.

There's no understanding unless there's active engagement, which implies we spend a considerable amount of time with the persons involved. Listen to their burdens, or read about their suffering through whatever form of text. Paying attention through mindful effort.

When such empathetic interactions increase, the level of stress our own mind faces reduces. And this is scientifically proven too; it helps reduce our cortisol levels; which is the defining indicator for stress.

So, how do we work on our empathy? We can start by stepping out of our own heads and make efforts to notice the lives of other people. Make sense out of their perspectives and do our best to understand them.

The important thing is that our goal should not be to fix or solve their problems. Sometimes all we can do is be there and hear them out.
We are still minds apart after all and no amount of mentalizing is going to help us understand them completely.

But based on how much we can, all we can do is either a gentle push in the right direction or pull them back on their feet.

Remember, we have to alternate between the kind of mental support we can provide. It's impractical to push or pull every day, that's just exhausting as hell and it doesn't help anyone.
Just the basics alone can go a long way.

And most of the times, it's all they need. Plus it's a killer workout for you.

[P.S I don't have an analogy for 'legs' so we're gonna skip it as usual]