Entry #8 Motivation

 

What are some goals that you have set for yourself? What motivates you to accomplish those goals? These are questions I ask myself whenever I feel like I am not being the most productive. We all have those days where we just want to lay in bed all day and watch our favorite tv show while eating our favorite snacks. In order to be successful in life we must push through that lazy phase and work towards our goals. But sometimes we lack the motivation and must remind ourselves the reason why we set goals in the first place. It is because we want to accomplish them, we make up this image in our heads of the outcome of our hard work and that is the motivation needed to push through the hard times.

This summer, I set a goal to start working out, eat healthy and be consistent to get in shape during quarantine. It was a very common goal for a lot of people since we were all stuck at home doing nothing with enough time and motivation. I got into a routine of waking up at 9 a.m., eating a healthy breakfast like avocado toast or granola, and working out. I would get my morning routine done before 12 p.m. and then I headed off to work on the weekdays. The weekend was my time off from working out and waking up early. Since I had a routine, it did not even feel like I was losing weight or gaining anything from working out. But by the end of the month, I had lost 15 pounds. I was in shock because that was not my intention, I had just simply gotten in the habit of working out every morning. That is when I realized that if I set more goals, eventually I would be able to say that I made it past my goals which is extremely satisfying to say. 

So then, I had a goal to gain muscle because I had already lost so much weight without realizing it. I began my research on the foods and workouts I had to do in order to see results. Protein and carbohydrates were the essential nutrients needed to gain muscle. Also, lifting weights was a recommendation for building muscle. The problem was that I had never watched my eating before this so I would have to change my whole diet if I wanted to complete my goal. Another struggle was that I did not have a gym membership or weights at home. So my the more I researched, the more I realized that I needed to make these changes if I ever wanted to see results. I went to Walmart and bought a couple of light weights to start off my journey, I also asked my mom if she could buy high protein and carbohydrates food on her next grocery run. 

The next month I was even more dedicated to working hard to achieve that mental image I had of my health/body goals. I began to do more specific workouts instead of just trying to sweat, which is what I did the previous month. First, I noticed change in my arms. I could do 20 pushups in a row instead of the 10 that I did the month before. Then, I noticed change in my legs. They looked more toned and I could do more leg workouts than I did the month before. Slowly but surely, I was progressing and I had motivation to keep going because I knew that if I slacked even a little bit, it would be hard to get back in shape. I was happy and satisfied with myself and my body. But towards the end of that month, school began.

I told myself that I would still make time for my workouts because I had come so far to just give it up. At first, school was pretty easy so I has sufficient time to get my school work done, go to work and work out. But eventually, spending time on myself started getting more difficult. So instead of working out every week day, I only worked out 3 days a week. That way, I could spend more time doing homework and working. With only, 3 days a week I began to slowly give up and not have any motivation to keep going because I stopped seeing results. Without motivation it was almost impossible to juggle school, work and being fit. So I stopped working out completely when school started getting too hard to handle.

I am slowly starting to get back to where I was last summer but it feels like time goes by so fast and I am not able to get everything done. I realized that taking care of myself is just as important as doing school and working. Although it is stressful to be busy all the time with several personal goals I want to achieve, those goals are my motivation to keep going and seeing results has pushed me to want more. Once again, I will be focusing on working hard just like I was last summer but I have to be realistic and remember that time management is extremely difficult but essential. With continuous motivation, I think I could start taking care of my body again.