Depression Hates a Moving Target Quotes

“If running taught me anything, it was how to turn things around. So many times, I had dreaded a workout, only for it to turn out splendid. So many days I had been convinced I would get lost. only to be thrilled by new scenery as I found my way. So many mornings I growled about rising at the butt-crack of dawn, then wound up laughing with my friends. This was no different. The doldrums wouldn’t last, especially if I took action.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“By this time, I believed so strongly in the healing power of running that I would talk about my adventure to anyone. I’d gone from a woman who found it difficult to leave her house to one who regularly took part in enormous events with total strangers. Time alone on the trail or the streets had become a meditation, a time for reflection, and a path of insight. Running with a group taught me I could be social without being overwhelmed. Training helped me to show up regardless of how I felt, even if it meant getting up at hours I fondly referred to as “the middle of the night.” Facing my fears gave me a sense of self-esteem I’d often lacked. My days slouched alone on the sofa jealously reading social media posts about my friend’s accomplishments were over. I joined their ranks and had the strong legs to show for it. Because of the positive way running had transformed by body and mind, I eagerly shared my joy.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“What changes your life is the day-to-day stuff leading up to and following the events.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Running held a prominent place in my mental health kit, as essential as medication and therapy. Running reduced the number of naps I took, increased my self-esteem, made me more accountable, prevented my psychiatrist from having to increase or change my medication, and likely kept me out of the hospital, but it hadn’t cured me.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“We only talked for a minute, but this reminded me I was loved.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“The week after my happy Tin Man 5k, I learned that a friend had died of a heroin overdose, possibly a suicide. He and I had attended the same weekly recovery group for years. His death stunned everyone who knew him, myself included. A few days later, a friend’s boss shot himself in the parking lot of a nearby police department. Both events rattled me. While mourning the losses, I worried the knives in the kitchen drawer might jump out and stab me. I asked Ed to hold me. “I need to tie myself to the planet, so I don’t spin off.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or look foolish. Suit up and show up. Stay in the present. Don’t be tossed away.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Running held a prominent place in my mental health kit, as essential as medication and therapy.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“I doubted running would permanently heal my depression, but I craved the runner's rush. In the hours following a run, my arms and legs tingled. My chest and throat opened. The dark heaviness lifted, and my body felt light and warm like an afterglow.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“For me, any small action—breaking a sweat, writing a paragraph, sitting for five minutes—makes a huge difference. I hope it will for you, as well.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“You bring dreams to fruition by doing the work in front of you. You put in the effort and, most of the time, get results. If I, an overweight fifty-year-old with chronic depression, manic episodes, anxiety, hypochondria, and a wonky ankle could do it, anyone could.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“My training for a full marathon had taken every decade.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“The desire to continue running for the rest of my life made me willing to try nearly anything.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Instead, I looked for solutions:”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Me running the marathon my mind told me I never could.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Ironically, that’s how you do it. One foot in front of the other, mile after mile, over weeks and weeks. My life was altered by not being derailed.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“The same was true of the marathon. Those final miles beat me up but didn’t defeat me.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Political signs dotted the yards. This was a presidential year and the nation was on edge. It didn’t matter which party the signs supported, they annoyed me. I longed for the green simplicity of empty yards.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Holy shit, that thing’s loud!” and we all laughed.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“But I did what I’d learned in meditation and writing. Keep showing up. I always felt better after.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“fourteen miles amazed me. Two years before, I couldn’t even run around the block.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“More points toward my badass merit badge.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“The night I found out my friend had died, I cried for all the people lost to addiction and depression. I explained to Ed how, when your mood rolls like a small boat at sea, the unthinkable becomes possible.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“I wound my way back to the walking bridge which I intended to master. I’d desensitized myself by repeating frightening things in small doses. As they become familiar, they are less terrifying.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink

“Given my newfound love for exercise, I might have unfriended them.”
― Nita Sweeney, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running With My Dog Brought Me Back From the Brink