Recommendation

1K I'm not running away, I'm running
2K We're just going back a little bit
3K Back on the Playground
4K Yeah, let's go until we get there
Everyone deserves to run the 5K
Running through the 6K panic
Scream while running 7K
There's no right way to run an 8K
9K If you listen to the sound of your body
10K We'll stumble all the way
Finally, if you want to run too

Good reference material
Acknowledgements
annotation

“My world has grown as much as the distance I’ve run.”
- A runner's liberation diary, breaking free from anxiety with his whole body and venturing out into the world.

Deep-seated illnesses of the mind are sometimes treated by torturing the body.
Anxiety and worry only grow bigger the more you try to forget them, so you have to force yourself with a pounding heart, rapid breathing, and muscle pain that makes you feel like screaming, so that your head doesn't even have a chance to feel anxious.
Bella McKee, a British journalist who has suffered from anxiety disorder since childhood, also had her life consumed by all kinds of anxiety.
Behind the guise of a Guardian reporter, she suffered from recurring panic attacks, and her marriage ended in failure within a year.
Even the person he called his second mother passed away around that time.
In this way, she blocks herself off from the world.

"The Joy of Running" is an essay that depicts the process of a person who had been isolated from the world due to anxiety disorder, divorce, and the death of a loved one, starting to run and breaking free from anxiety with his whole body.
The desire to escape from anxiety and worry was expressed through the act of running.
Of course, my memories of my first run were the worst.
My calves felt like they were on fire and my heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe.
There was no trace of the ecstatic feeling of "runner's high" that comes after high-intensity exercise.
Then finally I realized.
I, who used to cry helplessly every day, never cried once while running.
So she ran the next day too, and as she heard her feet tapping the ground, she gradually began to regain the rhythm of life.
Her life, confined to a dark and quiet house, is filled with scenes from all corners of the world: a supermarket preparing to open, mothers gathered at a local cafe, and passersby drinking.
One day, as she was running through the city center among the crowds of people as usual, she finally experienced a quiet sense of liberation.

“When I felt helpless, running was my only hope.”
The "Life Reboot Manual" that transformed an anxiety disorder sufferer into a best-selling author.

As Bella Mackey neared her thirties, her world had shrunk to the point where it was almost invisible.
In order to lead a 'normal life' like everyone else, she desperately ran away from anxiety and panic.
I avoided any place where I had ever had a seizure after putting a 'danger label' on it, but gradually the 'danger labels' started to appear on elevators and subways, and soon spread like an epidemic, expanding to hospitals and supermarkets.
She dreamed of a stable life by marrying her coworker, but in the end, even her husband left her after only a year.
There was nowhere left to run.

When she was so completely isolated from the world and couldn't even think of starting anything, running was her only hope.
The hope that in a moment when I felt like I could do nothing, I could still run if I pushed my legs hard, the hope that if I just didn't give up, I could run forever.
She stumbled and fell countless times, but she never stopped.
When she felt like giving up, she would run for five minutes, shouting to herself, "Just one more minute," and as her breath hitched, her life finally began to pick up.


This book is a “fierce record of survival in the face of anxiety and depression, and a ‘life reboot manual’” (Kim Hon-bi).
Bella Mackey, whose life was once in shambles, published this book in which she confessed her pain, and has since sold over a million copies worldwide, becoming a best-selling author.
The novel 『How To Kill My Family』, which was published subsequently, has been confirmed to be a Netflix series, and the author begins to live a new life.
Despite spreading the joy of running and earning the nickname 'Britain's Forrest Gump', she admits she still struggles with anxiety.
But unlike in the past when she was defenseless against anxiety, now she has running.
Running may not solve all the problems surrounding us, but it is enough to change a person's life.

"Prescribing opportunities for sweat and a playground for the anxious in our society."
- The positive effects of exercise that confront the anxiety that consumes life head-on

There are countless Bella Mackies hiding around us.
From Catherine, who suffered her first panic attack at the age of sixteen, to Lucy, who struggled to attend class because of her obsession with her appearance, to David, who developed all sorts of phobias due to generalized anxiety disorder.
Anxiety has long been considered a personal hysteria without a specific diagnosis, but the author points out that there are more and more people like him who are silently suffering from the illness due to the prejudice that considers anxiety an emotion rather than a disease.
The author does not stop at simply reflecting on his own suffering, but dissects anxiety disorders in detail with the sharp eye and tenacious attitude of a journalist.
The goal is to provide practical help to someone experiencing similar difficulties by differentiating between the various types and symptoms of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and sharing appropriate coping methods.


There is no way to completely prevent anxiety disorders.
So how can we prevent anxiety from steering our lives? The author cites a lack of exercise in childhood as a fundamental cause of the prevalence of anxiety disorders in our society (Chapter 3).
Exercise has been shown to activate the prefrontal cortex and release anxiety-reducing hormones in the process, but the authors found that exercise among teenagers is actually decreasing worldwide.
A recent survey found that physical education hours in British secondary schools are decreasing every year, and 92.4% of Korean students are also not getting enough exercise (World Health Organization, 2019).
In particular, there is a research result that the atmosphere that considers intense exercise to be the exclusive domain of men has lowered the participation of female adolescents in exercise, and as a result, the rate of anxiety and depression in female adolescents has increased by up to 30% (UK Department for Education, 2017).
Bella Mackey warns that unless our childhoods reclaim their playgrounds, our children will grow up more anxious and depressed.
Considering the number of anxiety disorder patients in Korea is expected to reach 1 million by 2022 (Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service), and the explosive growth in the number of runners in Korea every year, we can infer why we need running.


"Life is about falling and stumbling, but moving forward with joy and sweat."
- Powerful advice that will make you want to put on your sneakers and run right now.

A new challenge breathes life into a stagnant life.
However, the process of challenge cannot always be elegant and beautiful.
New challenges can also bring us new frustrations.
It's no different from running.
Bella Mackey says that the urge to stop running is more likely to take over your body than the runner's high.
Unlike sports brand models, her hair was always disheveled and her whole body was covered in the smell of sweat.
People only try to sell us the fantasy of running, but when we embrace the pain, we can truly love it.
The author slowly immerses readers into the world of 'real running' by revealing, one by one, the numerous trials and errors he encountered as he began running.

The author does not romanticize the countless moments in which he stumbled as he began to run.
Instead, he recalls those days cheerfully and honestly, and conveys that falling and stumbling are also part of running.
Bella Mackey stumbled but never stopped, and finally found inner happiness.
The author shares here advice that has been incredibly helpful to him, from criteria for choosing running gear to apps, music to listen to while running, and a list of books that will keep you motivated, all with powerful encouragement.
The comfort she brings, having spurred us from the bottom of life to run, will block the headwind that hinders our running and become a tailwind that gently pushes us from behind.