Staying Motivated
Leverage your motivation
We’ve all had that spark at some point in our lives to make a change and strive for something better. Maybe it’s a career change, the pursuit of graduate school, starting a romantic relationship, buying a gym membership, or starting a new diet with hopes for weight loss. Maybe you’ve started on that path, felt like all the momentum was on your side, even had the end goal within reach, and then suddenly lost motivation and passion for whatever it was you thought you truly wanted. Some might know that lawyer, turned yoga instructor, or have seen The Big Loser success story revert back to their old ways and weight...and then some. These are people who reached for the mountaintop, pulled themselves up to the summit, and didn’t know what to do when they were on top. Maybe they didn’t anticipate the wind, forgot to bring a snack to savor the moment, were too tired to appreciate the view, or simply decided that the hike wasn’t worth the pain and hard work that it took to get up there in the first place. Hell, maybe they were fascinated by the thought of the mountaintop, romanticized the feeling, and pictured Everest, head above the clouds sneaking a peak of heaven. Then, reality hits, it’s a grey afternoon, you’re thousands of feet below the closest cloud, and you are surrounded by 15 people who are up in your personal space! Damnit, that’s your mountain and you want to stand at the highest peak soaking in your moment.
Having a desire to attain a goal is only part of the equation when trying to sustain change. We can get so caught up in hitting a weight loss goal, that we fail to think about what we are going to get out of it or what it will feel like reaching that goal. It’s important to paint that picture of what success means to you or else you might get close to that weight and realize that nothing has changed other than the number on that scale. Maybe you’re the same person, with the same insecurities, and the same problems you had going into the journey, but with a smaller waist line. Sure, weighing 165 lbs instead of 200 lbs would be great, but what is it you’re wanting to do once you get closer to that goal? How will that improve your life and why is that so important to you that you’re willing to change your life to make it happen?
There is one missing part of this equation and that’s the ability to recognize what it is that you’re trying to get away from. If we forget what it’s like to be at the bottom, you might not realize how beautiful and freeing the top truly is. Why did you decide to climb that mountain, pursue that degree, make a career change, or start your weight loss journey? When you get close to the finish line, it might not seem like anything changed at all, if you’re not careful to remember what the starting line looked like. Remember how you felt in your past life, sitting at home and wanting to join your friends for a night out, but feeling like you couldn’t find a shirt to hide your stomach, and decided you were too tired. Or what it was like not being able to keep up with your family on a hike. Or the embarrassment you feel when out of breath on the flight up the stairs to your office. If you don’t recognize the discomfort and dissatisfaction that prompted your decision to get healthy and lose weight in the first place, all that hard work that you put in might get questioned when you don’t know what to do when you’re close to the finish line and realize what it takes to cross it. You might say to yourself, “what the hell was I thinking, doing this in the first place?” We’ve all heard this phrase throughout our lives, you need to understand where you come from to be able to know where you’re going. If you forget the past, you’re bound to repeat it... It’s not that running away from something is necessarily any more powerful than running towards something, but it’s important to recognize that seeing the whole picture is what may help you continue with your progress and ability to stay motivated when it comes to accomplishing and sticking with your goal. Think about your discomfort, pain, reasons that you refuse to keep the status quo, maybe even consider writing it down. What does the future look like and how will you feel when you get there? Why is it so meaningful to you, and why will you take one step forward, right now, by speaking your intention and shaping it into your reality, one step at a time, even if you get knocked down and have to crawl. What’s waiting for you at your mountaintop?
