Motivation: Learning to Live Without it
Sunday Night Thoughts
Motivation is great. It's truly amazing. One day you have this idea and with a lovely little visit from Mr. Motivation, you can feel so inspired to get over any obstacle, and reach any goal.
But it doesn't last.
So many people, including myself, have set out on what seems like an amazing journey to health and fitness. We say to ourselves "This is it, this is for real", setting ambitious goals and having such determination to succeed. But all too often, we find ourselves getting distracted, veering off track, falling from the wagon and then begin the struggle to climb back on it, if we even bother to get back up in the first place. This process of constantly having to begin again is exhausting, and after a while those initial goals seem impossible, and you wonder why you were so ridiculous to even think you would ever get close to such ideals.
My Instagram feed is full of health, fitness and fashion bloggers whose successful careers seem like a complete world away, however, beneath it all they are normal, average people, like you and I, just doing their jobs. I see awe-inspiring photographs of fitness models, with insane physiques, and I just can't picture myself ever looking like that, no matter how much I might want it, it just doesn't feel possible. But it is, it is possible. There is nothing, at all, stopping me from getting to that point, and there's nothing stopping you either. That's the difference between motivation and discipline. We are running on an unreliable, inconsistent fuel that gets us going, but it's not with us for the long haul. Discipline, on the other hand, is why those models have abs and killer quads, and why I don't.
When it comes to health and fitness, I don't have a whole load of discipline, and I'm guessing anyone that's ever had to use a phrase like 'The diet starts again Monday', probably doesn't either. It's not easy admitting that, I like to think that I have a true passion for being healthy, and that is true. I do enjoy eating healthy foods, and exercising, just not all the time, which is completely normal, but it is in those 'off' moments that determine whether you will reach your goal or not.
{Motivation may get you through the week, but discipline doesn't take the weekend off.}
Which is why I am ditching motivation, saying my last goodbyes. Like that friend who, at first, is so full of energy and always wants to be around, yet when you need them the most, they're nowhere to be seen. We need to be fully committed if we are ever going to make some serious progress.
Yet obviously, discipline isn't that easy to come by, if it were, I'd already have it and this post wouldn't exist. Though, once gained, it's not so easily lost, unlike our untrustworhy pal, Mr. Motivation. People develop discipline in a multitude of ways, but I think, for me at least, the most effective way to create a true discipline is to have a solid, meaningful goal, one that goes beyond the aesthetic. Looking good, being ripped, getting "delts for days" may be what you envision the end point to look like, and may well be enough to get some people there, but for myself, and others, I believe you need to go deeper. Ask yourself why you want that, why do you want to lose that last half a stone etc?.. Why do I want to be lean? For me, I want to not be scared to look in the mirror, I want to wake up in the morning feeling full of energy, I want to be able to run for miles and not feel restricted by my body's capabilities.
Right now, I'm working on those reasons, trying to establish a mental strength that I can rely on to get me where I want to be and further; the strength to get me to that boxing class, go on that run I'd promised myself I'd do, or stop me scoffing that pizza on a Saturday night because "#YOLO it's the weekend".
So here's to positivity and the final "It starts on Monday".
TL;DR: Like Shia Labeouf once said, "Just do it".
