Mastering Motivation

Motivation - where does it come from? How do we hold on to it? I want to be healthy; I want to lose weight; yet I continue to make the same poor choices time after time. this past week, I did not exercise as often as planned nor did I eat as well as I should have. But I did exercise and eat better than I normally would have and a new week offers new opportunities. Finding motivation may not always be easy but is is possible. And my motivation continues to be renewed health and energy. I have to keep that in the forefront of my mind.

So to meet those goals, I plan on altering my idea of exercise. I do plan to exercise each morning and some afternoons with a work out tape; however, I am also going to keep reminding myself that exercise needs to occur continually throughout the day - MOVEMENT, any and all movement, makes a difference to our bodies - squats during breaks, moving and walking, especially when a job requires a lot of sitting, using the stairs instead of the elevator - ultimately, finding ways to incorporate movement into my days - this is the goal for next week.

   

Managing Mornings

To meet my healthy challenge, I have to learn to get the process right - not perfect - but right for me. Because we are all different, unique, it is important to discern what is best for each of us. So this time around, I have committed to trial and error and if necessary, trial and error again, until my journey toward better health is truly mine. And presently my trial is morning exercise and the error is not getting it done the last two days. I am NOT a morning person (not really even a mid-morning person - more of a zombie until 10 to be exact); however, I have discovered from my continual attempts to exercise IN THE MORNING that I am a better person throughout the day - calmer, less anxious or worried, able to handle stressful situations with more kindness and grace. My day and well being are just better overall.

    So instead of just giving up and considering it a lost cause, never to succeed (it is MORNING after all), I consider what I know to be true - when the exercise session is shorter, I am successful. Thirty minutes more of sleep seems to be the key to my actually "getting up" in time to complete the task. To this end, I have ordered the 21 Day Fix (the serving containers will definitely be a bonus as well). I am not, however, giving up on my longer exercise sessions. These I will work in on most afternoons. This way, instead of ruling out mornings completely, I may actually add work outs
throughout the week. Win-win. Monitoring and adjusting - my new motto toward better health - both mentally and physically - one morning (and afternoon) at a time.