MOTIVATION, AND HOW IT CAN SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL:
Today I've witnessed what happens to all of us eventually, the spiral out of control that breaks us from dedication, consistency and determination.
Since December I've not been to the gym, now this might seem a little odd for someone that visits on an almost daily basis but this was the construct of a set of actions which have led me to today.
Today I weighed myself and I've gained the better half of a stone (8lbs). I've consciously eaten really well over December but critically, and more importantly, been eating the calorie amounts that I would consume if I was still hitting the gym hard and forgetting about my deficit. A small yet critical error.
I was brought back to my thought process that led me here, the me now and the differences between today's me versus the me of late September.
Late September's me:
"I'm going to drop the gym for a month, give my body a long rest and focus on other things and come back strong in January"
This was great in practice, I had a good December (minus a miserable Christmas) and I think my body got the rest it needed. However I've unconsciously partaken in a clean bulking phase as a result of not managing my nutrition and calorific intake.
A series of events have rolled out and caused today's me.
Today's me is half a stone heavier, a little lethargic and sitting on the second of February without still having gone to the gym. Today's me looks out of the window, thinking "I should go for a run" and then looking at the rain, finding an excuse not to.
Now that you have a perspective on today's me I'm going to go over the point's that put me here where I am. Identifying a problem and it's causes will help aid in a solution!
DECEMBER:
I decided to focus my time onto some of my big projects that I hope to generate income from, one of these is a novel I'm currently 20 chapters through writing.
This takes up all my free time in the days, writing, reading and editing.
Before I' aware, Christmas and the perpetration for it take place.
A few days later, New years eve happens and me and my partner travel to Paris to see in the new year, one of my goals from last year that I was soo happy to write off!!
During the trip to Paris I had an epiphany about my life. It was ok, but not the life I grew up wanting, I realized that with a lot of work, I could live the life I wanted. I have to buckle down, work hard and get my two big projects off the floor.
Upon returning to the UK, my time, efforts and perspective changed direction towards creating a life for myself that I want, there really are less limits when you take off the ones you place on yourself!
JANUARY:
I worked hard making more content for the book and started seriously developing another big project that aims to deliver a card game. I drink a lot of coffee and spend long stints indoors designing, writing and editing.
The payoff? My fitness goals fell to the side, life brushed them aside and I've become very aware that I now have the painful re-introduction to daily exercise, the kind that anyone wanting to change their life has to endure.
THE WORST PART of exercising is the breaking in, forming a routine and sticking to it for a few weeks to turn that effort into instinct.
Septembers me of yesterday had good intentions, but it started a chain of events off that caused me to neglect my efforts. Today's me is apprehensive and looking onto the re-starting with a grimace.
However... I need to tell you something.
Yesterdays me was foolish, today's me is lazy but we haven't covered tomorrow's me.
Tomorrow's me is going to look for a way to integrate both, work hard and work out harder, nail the nutrition and get back on track. Because success and exercise are tied in as one, they synergize and help the other.
Daily Exercise Grants Me:
- General Health Improvement.
- Serotonin to make you feel happier.
- The Ability to wake up fresh.
- Focus and clarity.
- Something other than my work to focus on.
- Lets me make meeting my health and fitness goals easier.
- Self confidence.
All these aspects will aid me in my work, I won't be sat in the rain clutching a coffee cup to keep awake because my sleep has been bad. I won't need that same coffee to kickstart me into work in the mornings. I won't be miserable and laying in bed thinking of nothing more than the projects, rolling around my head.
So here is an idea.
Why do people as a whole, those that do not actively exercise, look upon it with distress?
It's because the hardest part of changing your nutrition, attending classes or just finding the motivation to exercise is the first few weeks.
That's the time you have to make the effort with no rewards and all the punishment.
You drag yourself off your sofa, go to the gym, have a workout that may or may not have had all your effort in and then return home, tired and maybe even a little sore, to top it off a new found post gym hunger is sabotaged because you've decided to (un-wisely) follow some fad diet.
It's the people that push on, keep up consistency and keep going that start to notice something change, the feeling of exercise becomes enjoyable (Trust me on that one), you'll notice that you feel lighter, clearer and in-tune.
The problem is when you break that consistency and revert back to low levels of activity, you get comfortable, less active and lazy.
The trick is to...
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Not at the weekend, not tomorrow... right now. Do something, and keep doing it for a few weeks and you'll kickstart yourself back in!
"Oh Kiko I'm afraid I've not exercised in a while / ever, there is no hope for me"
Wrong. If my own mother in her 60's can just start going for walks and look at her diet, so can you.
It's only too late when you're dead, make the changes. Make an effort and do it now!
(Just keep it simple to start with)
With that, I'm off for a run, time to get myself back together.
Thanks for reading!!
