Motivate Yourself to Work Out
If you’ve been finding yourself looking for excuses to avoid working out on many days, you are not alone. This happens to all of us, including those you find working out every single day.
If working out has been one of your new year resolutions, and you have been making the occassional slip, I am sure that you must have looked around to find ways to stay motivated so as not to miss a single day of your workout schedule.Your research would have shown many “tricks” like making your resolution public, getting a buddy, rewarding yourself, punishing yourself, etc.
I think the one thing that will make you stay with your exercise routine is your “Why?” What is your reason for exercising?
I got into an exercise routine some four years ago, after a cardiac incident. I was in a mostly sedentary job, but was doing a few stretches every morning, walking to the nearby grocer’s, and climbing up stairs to the fifth floor at least twice a week. That was all the exercie I was doing.
And then one morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, I had a heart attack. Nothing devastating – I felt the chest pain, the increased sweating, realised what was happening, reached the hospital and had my first medication within 20 minutes of having felt the first pain. Physically, yes my body felt the shock of imminent death, but I recovered quickly, and my heart muscles do not carry the scars of the incident today.
Mentally too I was fine then, because I had always considered myself ready to die at any time without regret.
But I found that my son who was just finishing school,was very upset, he could not imagine growing up without me. There was his love for his father. But there was something more.
In a culture that encourages chasing college degrees and high paying jobs, I had been supporting him in following his passion for music. Music, like any art, does not guarantee a lucrative and successful career. You may achieve fame and fortune, but most likely you will not. For every Madonna or Beyonce or Hans Zimmer, you have thousands who “blush unseen and waste {their} fragrance on the desert air.”
So, my staying alive and well for a few more years was a must for his being able to pursue the life of his dreams. To stand as a bulwark against pressures from friends and relatives for pursuing more “meaningful” studies, to support him till he is able to find opportunities for gainful employment of his talents, to help him chase his dreams – that is my reason to stay fit and healthy for some more years. To be there. This is my reason for regularly working out.
My why? is that I very much want to be there for my son.
So, if you are looking for staying motivated to stick to your workout routine, find your why.
Why do you want to workout, what is your why? Please write below
