Motivation

I often have people ask me how I stay motivated, and to be honest - it's not easy. There it is - the secret is out. While I want all of you to think I'm super human, I'm not. Great, there goes my rep.  The secret to being motivated is...well I don't know what it is. I do know, however, that it takes hard work. It takes pushing yourself. And some days, even for me, it just isn't happening.

One of the ways I am motivated is by being public about my running and even about my health struggles. It helps keep me motivated to know that  other people are following what I'm up to. Before my Crohn's issue a few weeks ago, I was in a super motivated streak. I was working out, both running and cross training, 5-6 days a week. I was feeling great physically and emotionally. Everything was running smoothly. After my overnight hospital stay I took a week off running, and it's been slow going in the two weeks since I started working out again.

In the last few weeks I haven't had time - scratch that, haven't MADE time - to focus on running like I should.  I hate the excuse that you don't have time because we all have time. It's how we prioritize. This week I made time to go to a Detroit Tigers baseball game on a Tuesday night, and we didn't get home until midnight. I didn't feel like getting up at 5:45 the next morning, so I consciously chose not to go running. I hit snooze on my alarm and then felt guilty all day. I had the time; I didn't choose to use the time.

I consider myself a pretty motivated person overall, but some days just aren't as good as others. This week has been slow going, but next week is a new week. I just have to prioritize and make time for running. Making time for running is making time to clear my head and time that enables me to focus on everything else in my crazy busy life. 

So I'm not always motivated. None of us are. But we do the best we can and regroup when the rest of life takes the place of running or whatever your exercise regiment/me time is. Next week is a new week, but I think I'm going to need to disable my snooze button...  

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