Sometimes people lose motivation. You decide you want to do something, you start doing it, but then the initial excitement dies down and you quit. For example, sometimes you stop working on your website. I like to think lost motivation happens to all of us, but I can only speak from personal experience.
This blog started in the pandemic as my writing work out in addition to my motivation to stay in shape. Then finding the time to stick with it got harder. My kids, who I love very much, turned into time-consuming, attention-hungry toddlers. Work got less remote and more demanding. I literally broke my hand. Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.
That last one is true. I was boxing in VR when I accidentally punched a door and fractured my fifth metacarpal bone. I had blocked off a clear area to play of course, but our cat came into the room and the door swung open into that area. Then I socked that mahogany door right above the mortise plate with a hard right hook.
I like to think I hurt the door more than it hurt me. The injury meant I couldn’t type with my right hand or hold a gaming controller. I was only out of commission for a month or so, but I lost the habit. This is my first post in over a year.
Getting back on the horse seems hard once you’ve fallen off. It’s not. All you need to do is start. When you fall, you may tell yourself “I guess I’m just not a horse back rider.” But that’s not true unless you tell yourself its true. It’s not true unless you want it to be true. It’s not true until you accept it. If you want to ride the horse, just get back on. Ouila, you’re a horseback rider.
There may be times when you are short on time, or energy, or a combination of the two. One thing you’ll always have the time and energy for is a mantra.
Here’s a mantra you can use. It will always be true.
I am a person that makes healthy decisions.
It’s true. You are a person that makes healthy decision. If you think it’s not true, you’re just refusing to get back on the horse. You want to make healthy decisions. So do it, there’s nothing stopping you. Are you afraid of what will happen if you stop making healthy decisions?
Nothing is stopping you. Go ahead, make a healthy choice. Do it right now. And when I say now, I don’t mean tomorrow. I don’t mean in an hour. I don’t mean in a minute from now. I mean right now. As in, stop reading this and come back to it if you have to.
Now that you’ve made a healthy choice, make another one. Make a healthy choice and then keep doing it. If you fall off, just get back on. You can get back on at any time. Every second of your life is another opportunity to be a person that makes healthy decisions.