Motivation.....

Since it's the holiday season and lack motivation right now is at an all time high, I thought I would write about motivation, hopefully to give myself some.  So here it goes....

Motivation is about what is inducing us to change, what is pushing us to become a better version of ourselves.  But what gives us that motivation?  Right now with the holidays, the motivation to eat right and finding time to exercise amidst all the other responsibilities that crop up this time of year, finding the energy/drive to get up off the couch, to cook dinner instead of picking up the phone is hard.

Motivation has to come from within.  I recently asked friends on a message board about their motivation, and while one of my bff's G had a great suggestion to help me get over the hump that is the holiday season, it's not going to help propel me into a new year with a new attitude.

Generally a journey like this starts with some outside pressure: an event you want to look pretty for (wedding or reunion), some health issue, or even societal pressure to fit into the norm.  Mine started as all of the above, but the long trek I've been on has kind of come to a halt.  This loss of motivation is part of what has stalled my journey in healthy living.  I have lost the outside pressure because I have lost weight already, feel better, look more normal, and have generally just improved my lifestyle over all.  But in order to continue the journey I need to find something intrinsic.  I haven't crested into the "I'm doing this because I want to" mode yet and I've lost the "I have to do this or else".

How do I transition into the next phase?  I started to climb out of the hole that I was in the past year and a half and that's a great feeling, but now what?  What do I do to transcend the issues?

Well, what I've decided to do is focus on the things that I love about myself and really look at the things I want to and can change.  I can change my weight, but I have to work at it.  I'm going to create little goals, I've always been good at working out plans, but I've never been good at the small steps.  Now I have to sit down and write those small goals....when I get to those, I'll let you know!!