Thoughts can make you sick. Picture a teenage girl. She’s bullied at her school and feels she doesn’t belong. Other students have taken onto social media platforms to criticize her. They have never physically harmed her. However, their words have had such an effect on her that she feels nauseous every day on her way to school. This is the physical result of what negative thoughts can achieve.
And when it comes to bullying, you are your biggest bully. Indeed, a lot of people struggle to find their motivation to achieve their goals – including fitness goals. Lack of time, lack of energy, lack of skills are some of the typical excuses you can use to justify missing your fitness goal. In reality, all you have to do is to understand how to handle your de-motivational voice.
Motivation is a powerful tool
Everyone who undertakes a fitness journey knows that motivation acts as a guiding force. If you’re motivated, you’re more likely to make it work. However, being motivated is not the kind of things that happen naturally. Indeed, your brain has a survival instinct that kicks in to protect you from potentially harmful decisions. It’s the self-criticism voice that keeps you alert every day. Consequently, you need to find ways to stay positive in the process of getting fit if you don’t want your brain to work against you. You can’t get fit if you don’t sharpen your motivation first, by training with a friend or by focusing on small and sustainable changes.
Look beyond the excuses
You can’t entirely shut down your de-motivational voice. But you can learn to listen to it carefully. For instance, when your inner voice is craving for a sweetened coffee drink with plenty of cream on top, it’s a code for tiredness. You can fight off fatigue without giving in to junk food easily, either by picking up a simple espresso drink or by getting a bottle of water with caffeine. When you find yourself thinking about cookies, it’s a sign you’re hungry – eat a piece of fruit instead.
Making yourself accountable with kindness
A common mistake when it comes down to shutting down your de-motivational voice is to punish yourself for each poor decision. The truth is that when you deprive your body and your mind from what they need — through unhealthy diets or guilt trips – you ultimately end up hurting. Your fitness journey is about finding pleasure in yourself. It deserves a reward, just for trying! You can also keep a trace of your fitness steps through a journaling app or a real bujo. As you do, the process will highlight your positive results, even if it might only be turning up in the early days of your journey.
Be realistic and tenacious
Your fitness journey has a beginning and an end. But remain realistic when defining your endpoint. Fitness is an emotional and physical journey of self-love, during which you help your body to become stronger. It doesn’t happen overnight. Short-term, dramatic goals are doomed to fail. You have to hang in there to make it happen, hang in there until the de-motivational voice stops talking.
Your inner voice tends to be negative by nature. It affects your fitness progress. It’s only when you learn to tame it that you can discover your true motivation and strength.
