Welcome!

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back. – Henry Rollins

I’m Mindi Friedland, I’m happily married to my husband Roger and we have a blended family of four children.

Here at Lifting Makes Me Happy you will find posts that are honest, practical and helpful to your soul, your body and your mental health.

Some things you should know:

I was diagnosed with clinical depression at age 15 after experiencing sexual assault. Since I write about these issues on the blog I feel like it’s important that you know why. I’ve struggled with depression ever since. I’ve been on meds, I’ve tried natural remedies but most of all, I try to stay active — I love lifting weights.

Depression and mental illness run rampant in my family – on both sides. I’m pretty sure my body is hard-wired for it.

I’m not a must-eat-clean-and-exercise-every-day person and fitness hasn’t always been a part of my life. I don’t usually love working out either. But I do it because it helps tame the beast.

The combination of fitness and personal development has helped get me where I am today. Personal development has helped with my motivation and energy – two sidekicks that depression loves to steal away. Some people laugh off “self-help” but when you’ve been living in hell and have spent years forming negative habits, telling yourself lies and ruminating on everything that is negative, personal development can help you form new habits that will change your life.

I let depression run my life for too long so now I’m more proactive in my battle with it. I still have really crappy days at times but I feel more equipped to not let myself stay down for too long. I want that for others, too.

Why I started blogging:

I started in 2008 to keep myself accountable to workouts. What keeps me motivated to write these days is that I always wished I could find a blog that I could relate to – one that was about fitness but that touched on mental health and personal development too. I’ve struggled to find them so here I am.

What you can expect:

Most of the content here is related to fitness, home workouts, personal development, depression and I also touch on sexual assault from time to time. Like you, my past has its fair share of struggles and disappointments but this blog is mostly filled with hope, determination, joy and love. When I do write about something difficult, I always try to share the lesson or key takeaway that I learned from it.

I don’t claim to know everything and I’m not a professional; I just love to share what I learn along the way. I’m just a girl who loves to write, create, lift, work hard and use my real-life experience with depression and healthy living to give hope to those who struggle and to use my teeny tiny part of the web to make the internet a more positive, happy place.