Hi Cobb Life community. Today, I come to talk about motivation.
The backstory. In my younger years, I was always in competitive sports. I grew up in a very small town, and in doing so, it sort of meant if you participated in sports, you played them all. I played basketball, volleyball, ran track, and was a cheerleader. I was really only decent at volleyball, but due to circumstances I won’t go into, it’s not something I pursued long. Instead, I found my way into competitive cheerleading. I wasn’t naturally good, but I worked hard. I was motivated, quite honestly, to leave this small town and see what the world had to offer me, so I paid for private lessons with the hopes of getting a college scholarship. I did so.
Fast forward. Post college, I started my career. Soon after, I wanted to start a family. Check. After 2 kids and 3 out of state moves, I had become quite out of shape. My husband and I vowed to get in shape. Actually, he took the plunge first – then, I got jealous of his results, so quickly joined in on the fun. Our exercise of choice was CrossFit. I won’t debate with you your thoughts on the method of training. It’s not why I’m writing this. I was totally into fitness for the next 8 years. Then, one day – out of the blue – I woke up with a sore neck. By the evening I was in the ER simply trying to stop the pain. Nothing could touch it. A week went by, I was on some pretty heavy duty pain pills, and I finally found out I had a herniated disc in my neck. It was causing back and arm pain – because nerves.
That was June 2020. It is now February 2021 and I’m still dealing with it. I go to PT twice a week. I’ve had 3 epidural spinal injections of cortisone. While my pain is manageable, I am not back to normal. In all of this, my motivation waned. Honestly, at times, I had no motivation at all. Because of this, I believe my pain increased. My mood decreased. It was a downward spiral.
So here’s where motivation comes in. What motivates me is my husband, who believes I can do anything I put my mind to. What motivates me is my children, who I know are watching how I handle certain things – like an injury or a setback. What motivates me is exercise. Not during, for sure, but how I feel afterward sure does. So I took a long hard look at myself in the mirror. I came to terms with the fact that I could no longer do what I was doing, but I could most certainly capitalize on what I was still able to do.
For me, right now, it’s yoga. It’s finding what feels good on any given day and embracing it fully. It’s knowing when to take a break and walk away, but also knowing when pushing through the tough stuff gets you to the GREAT stuff.
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