That Fleeting Motivation

Back when I was an athlete, I used to think I needed to feel motivated to do things, anything. I loved martial arts, so It was easy just to push through trainings. When I wasn't feeling motivated, I thought there was something wrong with that. I used to think that I needed to feel motivated for everything in my life that I wanted to do.

Truth is, motivation is ephemeral. It's temporary. You cannot build on motivation, and you cannot trust it to move you further. What truly moves you forward is determination, conviction, discipline...perhaps boring words, that feel like you're pushing through when you should just wait until you feel like doing it.

Getting complacent with oneself is very easy. Then, procrastination happens. One day, you're on, the other you're out. 

This discipline, can be applied to anything in life, anything worth achieving, anything worth getting. There are gonna be days when you won't feel like it. You'll feel sleepy, tired, not wanting to hit the weights, or go fo a walk, or work on your healing, your project, anything. I used to give me a lot of room to feel lazy, to just stop pushing, to let the wave of motivation move me. But that road leads to nowhere worthwhile.

Now that I'm going through perimenopause, there are a couple of weeks when my hormone levels start changing, and I can feel it. I start feeling more sleepy, tired, weaker at the gym...like I could sleep for a day or just do nothing at  and be happy with that. In the past I gave in to this feeling, thinking, if my body wants to rest, I rest. And that holds truth in it. However, there's a fine line between being complacent with yourself and just being determined. Goals won't happen unless you make them happen.

My health is changing and I know I don't want to get complacent with myself, I've already done it. I hit the gym even when I'm not feeling motivated, I just show up, do what I'm supposed to do for the day and feel good about myself. In that 2-week period when my motivation is on the floor, my muscles feel achier, and I could just sleep through the day, I wake up, have breakfast and go outside. Even if there's no sunshine, that morning light does something in my brain, and I'm reminded of what I am doing, what I'm doing.

And it's at this age that I'm realizing, motivation is like a wave...much like our emotions. We can let it holds us back, or we can learn to swim through every storm. Focus can be a powerful thing.

If you find yourself not feeling motivated about something important to you, do it anyways.

Cmc.