Too Much of a Good Thing

On addiction, exercise, and the way your body whispers

An extra day of rest never killed anyone.

A little while back, I shared this with my Buy Me a Coffee supporters. (If that’s you, thank you again for being there.) I’ve sat with it a bit since, and it still feels relevant. Maybe even more so, now that the summer’s gettting hotter, the routines are getting stickier, and the body’s starting to whisper something.

So here it is, in full. Not as a warning exactly, but maybe as a check-in, in case you've been feeling something similar.

I want to talk about something odd in the world of fitness: addiction.

I always say DSY. Don’t go overboard. Follow what feels good. But sometimes, that feel-good feeling is exactly what gets us to do too much.

Especially when, without realising it, we’re trying to fix something deeper with fitness.

These days, for many people, fitness becomes a stand-in: a surrogate religion, a substitute relationship and the backbone of daily routine. That may sound dramatic, but maybe you get what I mean. Religion, once a source of comfort and structure, is gone for many. Relationships – where we’ve unconsciously dumped those unmet spiritual expectations – often disappoint.

But a pair of flat-soled sneakers? Always there by the door. Always ready to deliver you a fix of endocannabinoids, endorphins, maybe even Vitamin D if, like me, you like to frolic in the sun.

Temptation

And that’s the temptation. For me, anyway. Some days it feels like if I don’t get my daily chemical cocktail from exercise, I’m not fully human and I won’t be able to get on with my day. A lot of people say that about coffee. But the body’s own drug lab works too. And sure, exercise is good for you. But like with drugs, dosage matters.

It’s the most powerful health intervention we have, and yet, like any powerful tool, it can backfire. That’s where those stories come from, of runners dropping dead mid-stride from cardiac arrest. Too much of a good thing. Just ask Micah True, the real-life Born to Run legend. Oops. You can’t. He’s no longer with us. Sorry for the dark, inappropriate humour.

When Movement Becomes a Must

I bring this up because I’ve felt that pull myself.

That “not-a-real-human-until-I-run” feeling? That’s personal. Most days, what I do is moderate: 20 to 30 minutes of slow jogging. And that’s what I recommend too: three to four times a week. And I mean that advice... for others and for myself.

But then came a hot and stiflingly humid summer. Early morning was the only bearable time to move. Yet, instead of itching to go out, I found myself wishing for rain. Not because of the heat, but because I wanted an excuse not to go.

That’s when it hit me. What was stopping me from just lying in bed longer? Nothing. Except maybe... addiction?

That’s a strong word. But that’s what it felt like.

So I took my own advice. I went for a leisurely walk instead – to have a shirt altered by a seamstress I found in my new neighborhood. I thought about the same kinds of things I usually think about while jogging. The ideas still came. I still felt like myself.

The DSY Reminder

The takeaway? Listen to your body. And your thoughts.

When I found myself hoping for a rainy day, not to escape the heat, but to escape the routine, that was my clue. I stopped at Radio Taiso 😜.

So if you find your routine becoming a little too addictive, make a point of easing off. Go for a walk, smell the flowers, literally and metaphorically. Do something else you enjoy. I actually stuck a little yellow post-it note at my bedside: “Rest! Please!” to help me nudge myself in the right direction in the morning.

Keep this in mind: when your brain is chasing those magic feel-good chemicals, it might not always make the wisest calls.

If this resonated, I’d love to hear about the small routines you’ve found yourself clinging to, or letting go of. What’s your version of the yellow post-it note?