Ryan Light Manages His OCD & Anxiety With Running

Today on the show I’m joining Ryan Light for a few easy miles.

Ryan Light

Ryan has almost run more races than he can count, ranging in distances from 5ks to full marathons.

But for Ryan, racing is secondary to the benefits that running has had on helping him mentally. Ryan has dealt with OCD and anxiety for most of his life, and in some of his darkest times a friend and runner (that also had issues with anxiety) suggested he try running as a way to help with the symptoms he was dealing with.

In today’s episode, Ryan talks candidly about his struggles with OCD and anxiety, how running has helped change his focus to something that is positive, and how that change of focus his literally changed his life.

He also offers some words of advice for those that may be suffering with OCD and anxiety in silence that I think all of us can use when we are dealing with the inevitable rough patches in our lives.

Here are a few of the highlights from our chat.

Running a race (typically a half) every month
His struggle with OCD and anxiety
A suggestion from a buddy to try running changed (and saved) his life
First experience with running was in the military, and it wasn’t good
Running isn’t the cure all for his OCD and anxiety, but it helps him keep episodes from escalating and staying elevated
The need to step away from running from time to time
Speaking directly to anyone struggling with OCD and anxiety

If you’d like to read some of the posts on Ryan’s blog about his struggles with OCD and anxiety, and the role running and being physically active has had in how he handles his disorders, check out http://realrunryan.com/category/anxiety. And if you know someone that could benefit from these posts, please pass the link on to them.

To connect with Ryan, check out his blog or look him up on the Twitter.

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