Working towards a goal, in my case weight loss, can be taxing at times. There are days (weeks even) when the end goal seems so far away that you wonder why you keep chasing it. I’ve fallen off the proverbial horse so many times, but each and every time I’ve managed to dust myself off and get right back on it. After 8 months I’m 65lbs healthier for it, with another 85lbs to go to reach my “goal” weight of 200lbs. Sometimes it’s the number on the scale that motivates me, and sometimes motivation can come from the unlikeliest of places.
Another hot summer weekend here in Missouri – the type of heat and humidity that makes you want to stay inside with the blinds shut and the AC cranked down real low. It’s 3pm on a Saturday, and the YMCA closes at 5pm and I’m having a hard time motivating myself to get up, get out and get over there. I feel good about how much I’ve achieved, yet at the same time on this particular day I just want to dive into a huge bowl of rocky road ice cream.
A lot of us nowadays struggle with motivation. The average American works more hours than their parents or grandparents did. We face so much uncertainty about our future and our children’s future that just picking up the paper or turning on the evening news can be a challenge. After all, the news has turned into nothing more than a mixed bag of celebrity gossip, political mudslinging and the latest tale of how the rich are getting richer while the rest of us wonder how in the world we are ever going to be able to afford to retire. Walter Cronkite, we could really use you nowadays!
Yet in the middle of all this gloom and doom, gossip and mudslinging, constantly beeping cell phones and days that seem shorter and shorter I have found that the best way to find motivation is by simple tuning out.
Technology is great – it’s also a great way to be lazy and lose track of time. I have stopped carrying my cell phone with me every time I go from room to room, or outside for a bit, because I really don’t want to be bothered by it. Nothing is that important it can’t wait 15 or 30 minutes. Instead of sitting in front of the TV watching non-stop crime shows and the latest incarnation of CSI I have instead turned off the TV, or when I do watch it a bit watch shows that expand my horizon – such as the Science Channel or the History Channel.
I’ve also made a concentrated effort to form more local friendships. Sure, it’s great to have thousands of Facebook friends – but it’s also good to have local friends. The kind you can go out and do something with on the weekend, or maybe just go over and help them work on their car or shoot the breeze with.
I’m guilty, like so many others, of getting caught up in the 24×7, technology driven, non-stop news cycle of a world we live in nowadays that I tended to isolate myself and forget that there really is more to life than surfing the web or watching Youtube videos.
So what happened yesterday when I was searching for my motivation? I actually found it by remembering that one of the staff members who work at the YMCA was working that Saturday and I knew she’d know if I was playing hooky – and I enjoy shooting the breeze with her. So I got up, got dressed and got my ass over there.
When it was all said and done – I left the Y feeling better than I had all day long. In the end, my personal motivator was people – and the joy that comes from turning off the computer, getting up from the desk and realizing that not all conversations have to take place over txt messaging or Facebook.