So much of changing your approach to things is in the mind. Motivation can be waning affected by everything from people you engage with, to work, to training, to pain, to energy levels and even to sleep. Blue days are not uncommon. You know how it is, you make great progress with something and are feeling good about things. Then from nowhere you feel a little lost. A little overwhelmed. A little, well, blue. Today is a blue day. I feel a bit listless. A bit like things are a struggle. I feel out of flow. I feel a bit sad, but don't really know why. It could be down to my diet changes messing with hormones. It could be my energy levels are a bit flat. I could be I've just let another couple of months of lockdown in my home office just get to me a bit. Or it might be all of the above.
Either way, they're pretty rubbish and not the easiest thing to snap out of.
The thing with something I'm taking on is it's hard for other people to really understand what you are going through. It's very personal and individual. It ties in with how you look at yourself (sometimes really poorly if you have weight to lose), and how you believe the world looks at you (though I personally tend to care less about this).
So here's how I'm dealing with it...
Be grateful for any small thing you can find. Gratitude is powerful. Even when the sky is falling in around our ears, take a look around. Do you have friends? Do you have shelter? Do you have family, income, your health, etc, etc?. If so just remind yourself that there are gifts all around us at any moment. Focus on the positives you already have and it helps take our minds away from the things you have yet to achieve.
Be creative. When we create we feel like we are moving our world forward. For me, today I'm writing this post. Part of it is cathartic, the other part is for my record of what I'm doing.
Change my physical state. Stick some uplifting music on, stand up. Dance (I am famous for throwing shapes like a ninja when it comes to dancing). Jump up and down and physically shake it out. It feels like energy is blocked in me, so moving is helping unblock it.
Get outdoors. Get outside. This evening I'll be heading out for an easy night hike with a friend.
Sleep more. The last couple of days I've been pushing a bit hard. Maybe an earlier night is called for. Things look different the following day.
Be kind to myself. This is a big one. I'm my hardest critic. I have very high expectations of myself. Always have had, and need to ease up on myself a little more. There's a time to go hard when I know I'm slacking, and there's a time to go gently and actually recover. The wisdom is knowing the difference
Lean in. Change is a journey. It's a process. It's challenging, which is why so few people fundamentally change. This means it's a high energy activity to change a big part of who you have been for a long time. I need to lean into the change. Accept that it's not a race, but a step-after-step pathway to follow. It's less about how fast you go, but more about just going. even if you go really slowly. But just keep going.
Just like an ultra marathon this whole journey I'm on is about putting one foot in front of the other. I remember the real dark moments in my 100K continuous hike. Those moments that tested whether I would quit or whether I even deserved to be out there in the first place. Dark days are no different. They will come, and they will go. I got through that then with a simple saying that became a mantra at times: "This too shall pass."
So that said, I'm going to leave this one there and chill for a bit. Tomorrow is a new day.
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