Last year (or was that the year before?) I had decided to join
in the One Word 365 challenge where you choose one word and work on that for
the year. For example, someone might choose the word “relaxed” and that
was what they would strive to work on for 365 days – becoming relaxed in
certain situations, learning how to relax in the midst of chaos, etc.
I had worked on my word, and I honestly can’t
remember what it was, for a few (or even several) months and then promptly
forgot all about it. After recently
seeing others around the blogsphere begin sharing their words for 2014, I
decided to attempt it again this year.
I’ve chosen to focus on the word motivation.
Why motivation?
Because I find that I can lose it quite quickly as well as over time. It can start in January after I make some
kind of resolutions (though I tend to not make any resolutions because I end up
not sticking with them) or promises to myself of changing eating habits, exercising,
reading my Bible every day, praying more, etc.
Before I know it, those resolutions or promises have been thrown out the
window – sometimes I just “forget” that I’m working on changing a habit, and
sometimes I get frustrated because I don’t see immediate results (I’m an instant gratification sort of gal,
and I get easily discouraged if I don’t see the results of doing something
right away – but that’s
a story for another time).
This year, I’m going to work on keeping my motivation or finding new and/or
improved ways to motivate myself in
whatever it is I’m
attempting to do or make.
And while I’m definitely no expert in motivation (which I seem to prove over
and over again), I think I need to work on changing a couple areas in my life
that could help me get and keep motivated
in other areas of my life.
1.
Eat properly – I need
to change up my eating habits. I need to eat healthier foods, I need to eat
properly balanced meals, and I need to cut down on the “junk food.”
While this will also benefit other areas in my life (i.e. weight loss),
I’m sure eating better, and getting the
vitamins my body needs, will help me feel better physically and contribute to
keeping motivated in other areas as
well.
2.
Exercising – that dreaded 10-letter evil
word. Yes, I definitely need to be
exercising. It has its own benefits,
naturally, but if I exercise I will start to feel better physically, mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually (at least I’m hoping it helps with that). Feeling better in these areas, which will
then help me feel better about myself in general, should also help lead to
keeping me motivated.
3.
Getting
Enough Sleep – this is
an area I can often struggle with. I am
a natural born night owl. I function
better later in the day, the evening, and at night. This has been an issue I’ve dealt
with (or struggled with) all my life. I
can try to adjust things by going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, etc. but
it’s torture
at times, and I find myself falling back into the night owl routine. I end up
needing naps when I come home from work because I’m so
tired (which will then affect my sleep pattern for the night), I need more
coffee, I can get a little cranky at times, and this is something that
DEFINITELY sucks the motivation for anything right out of me!
So, these are three areas that I am going to work on to help me with motivation. Of course, there are also areas that will be beneficial in the long run with my overall health, so it should be a win-win situation, right?
Now, to just keep motivated
at these things…it’s not
going to be an easy task!
