me against myself

Have you ever noticed yourself slacking with something? For me, it usually is my weight or the discipline to be consistent with writing these posts. A year ago I was fit and living healthy. I’ve lived a healthy lifestyle once so, I know I can get back to it.

Do better

I believe that life comes in different phases, the same as the economy. There are recessions and expansions. In the phase of expansion, I’m personally thriving. My lifestyle is healthy, my body is fit, and my mind is well-rested. Now in the phase of recession, I don’t make time to eat healthy, I’m not consistent with my workouts and mindfulness is the last of my priorities. It is a shame because I know I have the discipline to keep up with this lifestyle and somehow I let it slip away sometimes.

Things are getting personal

When I notice that I want to get back to something, but it’s not happening, then it gets personal. The only person standing in my way is me. But make no mistake, just because you’ve been so disciplined once doesn’t mean you’ll bounce back immediately. It takes time and for me, I like to look at it as if I’ve never done it before because then I won’t compare myself too much against my previous self. On the other hand, it also gives me motivation to know that I have done it before. And if I had the motivation once, I can tap into that again.

Your potential

Other times, I would like to achieve things I haven’t done before but I simply know are in my potential. During these times I like to challenge myself to push further discipline-wise than ever before. The gap between my values and actions gets minimized. Another recommendation that I find useful is visualization. If someone hasn’t achieved that thing before, it is helpful to visualize what that new situation looks like. How the new you would act, how you would feel etc. Visualizing the new you makes it easier to transition into that new lifestyle. Thus, increases motivation.

Image: Unsplash, by Baran Lotfollahi