Finding Your Motivation

 Or maybe the title should be "Finding MY Motivation" since I seem to have it come in fits and starts.

I think that the most important thing to remember is that being unmotivated is kinda normal. At the end of all of our efforts as people, what do we do the work for? So we can stop, relax and enjoy the fruits of our labours. It's ultimately why we do anything in life I think.

So of course we're going to have days (weeks / months?) where the last thing we want to do is get up at 430am, put on our gym clothes, brave the clod bitter weather and head into the gym before starting the day job. Of course we're gonna say "fuck it, I'm hitting the drive thru" instead of properly packing up enough meals for the week. Of course we're going to look at our "long term goals" or even worse, compare our present selves to younger, fitter versions of ourselves and just want to throw in the towel because "I'll never be able to be that person so why am I killing myself for this?"

And I don't have an answer for you. For why you should keep up the hard work. The effort. The sacrifice at home. The denying yourself a second piece of pie at family dinners.

All I have have are the answers for me.

My little girl needs her Daddy to be healthy until she's a grown woman.

The way my body feels when I'm perfectly in the zone, hitting my reps exactly right and feeling every fibre stretch, pump and swell up.

That I have an extra spring in my step because the work I've put in building up my hamstrings and glutes are literally propelling me forward as I walk the dog.

Realizing that all of my pants are getting too big in the waist and a bit tighter around the thighs.

Finding that in spite of the mental pressure and personal life stress I am (we all are) dealing with is much more manageable after I've set my body right and burned off that extra anxiety.

That has to be enough for me. No "7% body fat" or "500lb deadlift goal" is going to compare with those five ideas for me. Those are mine and I need them to continue the #WarOnDadBod.

Most importantly, I will always need them. For my Fitness Journey will never end. It only ends when I'm dead, and I'm too stubborn to die until I've got no work left to do and no people left to help.

So I'm gonna keep going. Keep lifting. Keep eating better. Keep sweating my balls off.

Because the alternative isn't an alternative to me.

AK