great post today by mia freedman on her website. you can read it here.
it's all about motivation, featuring one of my favourite people on the planet, michelle bridges!
so i read the article this morning, and have read it again this evening and now am reading the comments left by other readers.
a lot of people out there think mish and mia are full of shite. that there is no such a thing as motivation.
i agree, to an extent.
“Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going” (Jim Rohn, motivation expert).
i agree wholeheartedly with that statement. motivation is what gets you started. it's why people join a gym.
creating the habit of exercise tho? well that's the hard part.
"motivation is like a bad boyfriend. never there when you need them!" (michelle bridges, fitness expert).
once you've begun exercising, the next step is working out how to keep going. and that can be challenging, to say the least! a lot of people find that the feeling they get after their workout is complete is enough to go back the next day and do it all again.
for others tho that may not be enough. maybe it's wanting to fit in to some specific items of clothing, such as skinny jeans or swimmers.
for others however, it may be something a little more internal. and for me, it was.
i went back to the gym when bug was 4 months old. i did not exercise when i was pregnant with her or bubble. nor did i exercise between each pregnancy. prior to going back to the gym, i would put both the girls in the pram and go for a walk. there are a lot of hills where i live, so they were a challenge!
i had not been coping. it was not fun, inside my head. however a line from a movie i loved as a teenager kept going over and over in my mind:
exercise produces endorphins.
endorphins make you happy.
happy people do not kill their husband.
- elle woods (reese witherspoon) 'legally blond'
did i want to kill the agent? hmmm, no not really. ok maybe, a little. a LOT. especially as he 'wasn't going thru what i went thru every day. he was only ever there when it was all good.' and the girls? i would never ever harm them. however i completely understood why the mothers do what they do in the horror stories you hear about. scary, but true.
so one afternoon, when i think the agent couldn't come home like i'd asked him to/he'd promised to, i went for a walk.
i don't know that i actually felt very good afterwards. i do know that i was simply happy to have been out of the house for an hour!
i then got the agent to contact his cousin about getting me a member pass to his gym. the member pass come thru, and i've been going ever since.
exercise is what pulled me thru the first 6 months of bug's life, where i was simply existing. i adored both the girls back then and still do. i found tho that after my morning gym class, i felt more in control of my life. more.....able to cope with what the day threw at me. be it vomit from bug, or bubble not doing as i asked. (looking back, she was 18 months old for effs sake steph! give the kid a break! aahhh hindsight. thou art a wonderful bitch.) i could simply cope, with my life, better on the days i had exercised compared to the days i didn't. i had more patience. i was happier. and it helped me not be depressed. as i've said before, by the time i saw psychologist, i was at an 'anxiety level' and not a 'depressed' level. no help from drugs, and i was so glad when my psychologist said she didn't think i needed them!
as mia said in her article, without exercise she becomes 'moody mcbitchface'. oh, so do i!
i still struggle to do it every day. however there is a saying i heard whilst doing the 12wbt: "you always regret NOT doing a workout. however you NEVER regret DOING a workout!" and it is so true! i love that i stayed and did step after pump last tuesday. sure, i was bloody tired on wednesday and only lasted half an attack class, but i felt so good at the same time! so each time i think about NOT going to the gym, i'm telling myself that little quote. when i remember (bloody pregnancy amnesia!)
and so far, when i have remembered it, it's worked! i've gone, done the class and felt bloody fantastic afterwards!
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