Editor’s Note: Kayla’s Korner will be a reoccurring column that deals with mental health and teenage issues.

It has been almost a year since I was in the hospital. The six months following this were pretty difficult for me. I continued to not feel like myself and sad all the time.

But as time went on, I began to change and really work on myself.

Over the last few months, especially, I have been trying to make myself a more happier and healthier person. To do this, I have been working out almost every day with my friend as well as trying to eat better.

My workouts are usually an hour each day. It depends on the day, but we usually either work out in the afternoon (after school) or at night (around 9 or 10 p.m.). Our workouts vary, but most recently, we have been doing three different exercises.

First, my friend and I run a mile around her neighborhood. It takes us about 10 minutes to do this. Following this, we usually take a small water break and then do a HIIT workout.

A HIIT workout, also known as high intensity interval training, helps burn fat and get your heart rate up. Here is a HIIT workout for beginners. 

For our HIIT workout, we do four different moves 16 times each: burpees, squats, leg raises, jumping lunges, and L-shaped planks.

If we are not too tired, we do a cardio or ab workout. The cardio workout is running up and down stairs for two minutes and then jump roping for another two minutes. The ab workout consists of 45 seconds of reverse sit ups, 45 seconds of leg raises while laying down, 30 seconds of jackknifes sit ups, and finally 200 regular sit ups.

We do a lot of different workouts, but these are the ones we have been doing regularly and most recently.

Along with working out, I have been trying my best to eat healthier. I have tried various diets like the keto diet, but I usually fail at them. Instead of this, I have been trying my best to eat less carbohydrates as well as not eat out as much. I have been learning to love vegetables and fruits.

I also realized that I eat a lot of fried and junk food at school, so I have been trying to stop that. I used to always get a sandwich, but now I try to eat salad almost every day in school (If you were wondering, my sandwich order is a round roll with chicken, hot sauce, ranch, and lettuce.)

Along with working out and eating healthier, I have continued to go to my therapist once a week and talk about how I’ve been feeling and anything that has stressed me out.

My sessions, though, have been just really happy. We have mostly been talking about what is going on in my week and what I’ve been doing.

I have been really happy.

I continue to take my medication. I have seen that I have been a lot less anxious and depressed over the last few months. I am excited for the future.

I still have bad days, but I now put this negative energy into either working out or talking about it with someone.

I have really seen myself grown and I’m really proud of myself. I hope to continue to grow throughout the next few months.

Coming next: Kayla’s Korner will be continuing with weekly articles. Next week, Kayla will talk about her anxiety with going to college next year.