Motivation, What’s Yours?

How are your GOALS going for the new year? Were one of your goals for the year to lose weight, eat more healthy and exercise? Well, you know you are not alone. Unfortunately it is one that many of us choose for ourselves each year but rarely achieve. Motivation is the key to everything we do or do not do. It does not just apply to health goals. You need to find the motivation to clean up or organize, to do the taxes or rake the leaves.

 

Setting Goals Is Not The Issue

I try not to be too hard on myself. Setting Goals is not really the issue. Anyone can sit down and look at what needs to change or improve in their life to make them healthier or happier. Discovering what MOTIVATES YOU is really the key.

With the right motivation, we can accomplish so much. It can be Positive Motivation, like a trip you are planning and you really want to lose weight for it. It can be Negative Motivation, like seeing a photo of yourself and realizing you had no idea that you had gained so much weight. That actually worked for me 3 years ago, but I slowly put the weight back on. Now here I am back where I was. The same motivation doesn’t usually work twice unfortunately.

Sometimes Our Motivations Find Us

I hate to admit it but I had joined a gym in November and here we were in January and I had not even stepped in it. With great hopes to encourage me, my dear husband bought be the most beautiful aqua fitbit for Christmas. But that still wasn’t enough.

Sometimes the silliest things or circumstances create our Motivation for us. I found mine. I was a bit dizzy one day and at first thought I was sick and took the day off and laid around. The next day I thought perhaps it was my sinuses and bought some OTC meds to clear it up even though I had no other symptoms like a cold (BTW, I am not offering medical advice. If you have symptoms, contact your doctor. I am an RN and work closely with my doctor and know my health well so this is just for me). The meds worked but as soon as they wore off the dizziness was back. I was out of town so I was just going to wait until I got back in town to see my doctor if it persisted. But the morning I returned I remembered that gym membership.

The gym was less than 5 minutes away. It had a Steam Room and Sauna and I thought how that Steam would clear my sinuses and decided to go. There is mixed medical research as usual on health benefits of Steam and Saunas, but for benefits of the two read here. I decided to walk as well because I needed a mild cardio work out to exercise my heart. I also decided to add a few laps of relaxed swimming to continue a non-pounding cardio exercise. So after a couple of weeks of walking, steaming, sauna time, swimming, hot tub and then back to the steam and sauna….I am hooked!

I have been going daily and I just love it! I don’t even go with the thought that I am going to lose weight or even that I am going to get my heart healthier. Once I got in the habit, I have found that I love that time. My mind is always bursting with ideas and while swimming and steaming and in the sauna, I get lots of more ideas relaxing.

I use the walking to listen to podcasts which accomplishes two things at once and the serotonin release with its appetite suppressant  and natural mood elevator has really changed my life~

My original Motivation failed, the nice equipment didn’t do the trick. No, it took the need to clear my sinuses to cause me to succeed instead. The result I was after is what matters to me. Now with a clear head, the motivation has changed again and is not even about going to the gym and getting exercise. It is truly a treat for me to relax in the pool, sauna and steam and I look forward to my podcast time as well as the great feeling I have during and after the time spent there.

Don’t Give Up, Don’t Quit Trying, You Can Do It!

How can you put this into practice? Finding your Motivation is really key. Don’t give up. Don’t be hard on yourself. Just keep moving in that direction and you will see something that is special to your motivation that will get you in the door or start you on a healthier intake. Just keep your eyes open for it.

New habits beget other new habits. This one is kind of great because it had a snowball effect as people say.

1. The appetite suppression of the serotonin release has caused weight loss and the desire to eat fresh and healthy food.
2. The desire to keep my heart rate in a more normal range has caused me to give up caffeine.
3. I am accomplishing more with my day.
4. I am actually tired at a reasonable bedtime ( I also suffer insomnia often) and have been going to bed by 10 and making it a practice not to be on the computer after 8pm when possible and reading or watching one show while in bed to fall asleep.
5. I have not required my migraine meds in over two weeks now which is unheard of for me. I am still suffering from headaches but they are manageable with OTC meds.

Another fun side of of this new addition in my life? The workout fashion and gear, so…

Let’s go shopping!

I am excited to share some of the NEWEST FITBIT FASHION! I saw some of these on Project Runway Jr a few weeks ago and was delighted that they now come in the form of jewelry~ (affiliate links)

I also wanted to share some great fashion for the pool. I am wearing a suit daily and so I have to have more than one. This is not the beach, so a nice full coverage suit that still looks great is the way to go. Enjoy the collection. ( affiliate links)

I would love to hear if you identified with this article at all. Can you pinpoint a time when you know what your motivation was and it really worked for you? We all know the right thing to do when it comes to our health. We just either can’t get started or can’t stick with it. So truly key in breaking through to a place of success is figuring what your motivation is.

Enjoy a FREE PRINTABLE of my quote to encourage you! This is sized as a 5 x 7 suitable for framing if you desire.