fitness: Motivation

WHAT is the secret to motivation?

Motivation for anything: eating well, continuing on the path to a goal, exercise, life?

I've felt extremely sheepish over the past six weeks and even the past three months, as I started out on a path for this blog- and stopped writing- and had widely fluctuating, though continuous, progress with working out- and stopped working out.  I could explain that life got in the way.  Because of course, it did.  A week after I made my first post, I started a new full-time job.  The temperature dropped to fifty degrees; I stopped running.  I did have the awesome experience of being able to bike every day to my new work (which I highly recommend if it is in your realm of possibilities!) but it threw me out of my exercise norm and made me neglect a more balanced approach to working out. Then Christmas and New Years arrived and my husband and I were traveling to see family and friends... further throwing my motivation for fitness     o   f    f.  Now, do I regret meeting the girls for a coffee whereas I could have gone on a hike... no.  I only regret my mindset during the time and my slowly but surely dropping motivation.

Fast forward a few weeks, to about two weeks ago, and Winter arrived to the Midwest.  I was introduced to Winter, whom I haven't conversed with since I was seven and living in Michigan.  We  have been apart for twenty years, while I lived in Phoenix, and tag on an extra year for Austin, which is where I just moved from, this September.  My old friend arrived for the new year, bringing snow, ice and somehow hiding about thirty degrees I had become comfortable with, to make our temperatures in the negative.  That week I drove in snow for the first time ever, sliding about three different times during my trip and even having to put on the emergency lights at one point to alert the other drivers to the fact that they were dealing with a complete idiot.  Another first for that week: I fell down the stairs.  I descended the stairs, thinking I had successfully avoided all the ice, and flew off the last three or so stairs to the bottom, all with phenomenally little friction, until gravity brought my own bottom in contact with the cement.  Not an easy first week hanging out with my long lost chum.  To say the least, I had (literally) hit rock bottom.

All the while I had the thought "what is the point of writing about fitness and finds when I don't want to go outside the apartment or ever leave my sweat pants (and parka and wool socks and duck down mittens and base layers and ear muffs...)?"

But sometimes getting to a low is what you need because you can't proceed further; when you've hit the end you need to turn around.  One moment of clarity and light can be enough of a start in the right direction.  It's not immediate of course- and we can't expect it to be- but it is a thought that is held in the mind to offer direction.  And dare I say it, motivation.

Now, this wouldn't be enough on its own to ignite anything and keep a steady burn.  That is where a few things come in for help.  The first is to have knowledge of self, knowing what is in your heart.  Exercise and movement for me is sooooo important.  It is not only something that as a very base for my functioning and joy, but also affects my thinking, creativity, and drive for all the other aspects in my life.  My desire to keep on with blogging is also a thought that has stayed with me and grown, and is something that I do not want to give up on, even though in my own way of negative thinking, I "failed" with it because I let so much time go before doing another post.  If you feel unsure of your true self knowledge, ask God!  In His own time, He will reveal it to you.  The second help is your family support.  My husband focusing on the in-process work of my adjusting to all this change, and little pushes here and there to help my motivation, are so amazingly helpful to me!  And third- friends!  Your group of friends is a constant flow of motivation bouncing back and forth.  You can be unknowingly helpful to a friend at some point, then boom!  When you are not doing very well, having a hard day or whatnot, she blasts you back with the same remedy.  It can be as simple as knowing that working out makes you tick, and asking if you've been able to fit any workouts in lately.  In the past week, two different friends and my mother-in-law all asked if I had gotten to workout at all, and just that simple question has been so motivating, a reminder and a little push in the right direction.  After five weeks of no planned exercise, I have done three workouts.

It's just that tiny thought that translates into determination.  Motivation.

Before I start sounding like a Spice Girls song, I think I will turn in for the night.  But hopefully, even reading this once may be motivation....

Cheers to a new year,

Sarah, The Culture Thrift