Excerpt from Breakthrough Courage: 9 Habits to Conquer Fear and Build a Brave Heart
I’m taking a break from my busy schedule by spending a few days at our cabin in the Rocky Mountains. A snowstorm passed through last night and the driveway is covered in six inches of snow. First thing this morning, the sun was shining brightly and the forecast called for temperatures rising into the thirties, so I grabbed a snow shovel and got to work.
Our driveway is thirty-five yards long. I started at the garage and began my workout—driving the shovel in and then lifting ten to fifteen pounds of the white stuff. For the next hour, I broke a sweat as I gave it all I had. It felt great!
I’ve learned to love these natural workouts. In this chapter, I am going to challenge you to be brave, strong, and courageous about your mental and physical health.
Habit 8 is “Work out your problems” because if you don’t, you will have a lot of them. From deteriorating physical health to brain atrophy, our quality of life will decrease with time.
I am in my sixties, and I have learned that if I don’t have good physical and mental health, I don’t have anything! Even my brain cells won’t be working for me. A noted clinical psychologist has said,
One way to not have your IQ decrease as you grow older is physical exercise. Your brain uses oxygen, and your brain needs to be clean and well oxygenated. Physical exercise, anaerobic and aerobic, staves off IQ decline over a lifetime.[i]
Realizing the value of continuing to raise my IQ as I grow older, I’ve been motivated to make a daily workout one of the most important habits of my life. Someone has aptly said, “If you have your health, you have a thousand wishes; if you don’t, you have one.”
Recent studies in neurology have shown that we can not only maintain our IQ, but we can actually increase our neurological strength even as we grow older. Dr. Alex Dranovsky and Dr. Shawn Achor have written extensively on the fact that we can retrain our minds. Research has shown that the brain can form new neural connections throughout a person’s life. This capacity, called neuroplasticity, has wide-ranging implications for everything from intellectual growth to recovering from brain damage.[ii]
Neuroscientists are discovering that our brains work like muscles: They get stronger with training. For example, when a person learns a new skill, he creates a new neural pathway. As he develops the skill further, the brain grows and becomes healthier.
The mind is oxygenated best through physical activity, resulting in brain growth. When our brain is well oxygenated, it continues to grow throughout life. You can actually increase your IQ as you grow older through physical exercise!
Physical activity has an immediate impact on your brain that can last for the rest of your life. After years of research, neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki has concluded that “exercise is the single most transformative thing that you can do for your brain.”[iii] In a famous 2017 TEDx talk, she gave three reasons:
First, through exercise, there is an immediate increase in the neurotransmitters of our brain, like dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline. Secondly, exercise improves your mood, and lastly, working out improves your reaction time in decision making.[iv]
I Had a Lot of Problems
Recently, I was on a hike with Liz, traversing boulders along the partially frozen Arkansas River in Buena Vista, Colorado. We were laughing and talking. Our conversation turned to my physical and mental state a decade ago. As you’ve read, I was leading a large and growing church at the time. I also was regularly experiencing headaches, gout, back pain, and depression. I had a lot of problems.
I also struggled with plantar fasciitis in my feet. Between speaking at five services every weekend and some unhealthy relationships in my life, I was experiencing consistent physical pain. I had gained weight, and to make matters worse, I was battling anxiety and depression on a regular basis. This wasn’t just related to lack of exercise, but relational problems between the staff members at the church. The issues were all compounding into a cauldron of ill health.
During that time, I wrote in my journal while on a hunting trip, “I feel so down. I am wondering if this is my last hunt! What’s wrong with my life?” That fall, I honestly reevaluated the direction of my life. Liz and I began to pray about the future and what kind of changes were needed.
Those changes were incremental and arduous at first. Some days I felt so lethargic I could barely get out of bed. But with God’s help, I didn’t quit. I read books and sought advice from leading health practitioners. Today, I believe I’m in my best shape since my mid-thirties.
Pastor Steve
[i] Martijn Schirp, “Jordan Peterson Explains the Most Useful Psychological Exercise Anyone Can Do,” High Existence, January 31, 2020, https://www.highexistence.com/jordan-peterson-authenticity/.
[ii] Cited in Julianne Chiaet, “The Secret to Happiness Is All in Your Head,” The Guardian, June 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/defining-moment/2016/jun/22/secret-happiness-brain-positive-attitude-train-success.
[iii] Wendy Suzuki, “The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise,” TED, November 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise?language=en.
[iv] Ibid.
