Doing the Things- How to Get Going When You’ve Lost Motivation

I recently took a several month hiatus away from doing most of the healthy things I normally do.  Towards the end of Mrs. Burrito Bowl’s pregnancy I had a pretty good routine of getting to the gym, shaving occasionally, intermittent fasting five days per week, drinking apple cider vinegar for some reason, Wim Hof breathing and making sure to end my showers with a minute or two of cold exposure. After Baby Burrito Bowl came into the mix most of those healthy routines stopped. Here’s a picture of her for no reason other than she’s super cute.

Cute huh? Okay, one more…

…and here’s her sleeping.

Point is, as cute as Baby Burrito Bowl is, she does take up a lot of time and energy.  Since December 17th, I have been to the gym exactly one time and eventually cancelled my membership altogether. I stopped intermittent fasting because our schedule was so wackadoodle, and I’ve been too tired to remember why I ever drank apple cider vinegar in the first place.

Somewhere around the two-month mark I decided I’d had enough. I wanted to get back into the swing of things but I didn’t know how. There was never a perfect time to start doing all the things I used to do. I wanted to wait until I wasn’t as tired to start being healthy again, but who knows when that might happen. I for sure didn’t want to slowly morph into your classic dad bod guy.

“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is today.”- Ancient Chinese Proverb Probably

Two months into 2019 I wasn’t feeling great physically. I had already lost some of the muscle gains I made in 2018, my stomach was bloating back to where it had been before I started intermittent fasting, and I just stopped shaving altogether. Motivation was lacking for such nonsense like personal hygiene or health. I wasn’t doing a few big things that help me feel grounded, so the little things fell by the wayside.

I was a little disappointed because I had built such a strong routine before the baby came along. When you have a routine life is easier. You just keep doing what you’re doing. When that routine goes away it’s much harder to put the train back on the tracks and get going again.

At some point I had an epiphany- If I just start doing the things again, I’ll be doing the things, again. Brilliant, huh? Instead of waiting for the perfect time to start working out, or fasting, or meditating, what if I just started doing them now, in this imperfect time?

So that’s what I did. I decided I didn’t want to wait for motivation to strike at the perfect time when I wasn’t overly tired, and didn’t have dad responsibilities. Instead, I decided to just start. I grabbed a kettle bell and did a few push-presses and squats right then. Then, I did another set. By the end of the second set I started to feel a little better. I was exercising. Yippee. I was doing one of the things.

I know it sounds like I just happened to get motivated in that moment. But, I really wasn’t motivated, honest. I felt like my nephew must have felt when this picture of him was snapped.

But, moments later, after I just started doing the things regardless of motivation, I felt like this…

See? Much happier. By now you’re probably wondering what got my nephew so over the moon with joy. Here’s the full picture…

It was his first time meeting his new cousin, June Burrito Bowl.

Real cute stuff.

Anyway, this instant improvement helped me realize I could use this same approach with all my previous routines. I sat down and did some Wim Hof breathing right on the spot. Fantastic. I felt fantastic. I had already eaten that day so fasting was out of the question, but I took a shower and ended it with cold. The next day I started intermittent fasting again, just like I had before.

I was doing it. I was doing the things.

Just like that I was back in a healthy routine. It didn’t take the perfect storm in order to get it all going again, it just took action.

If you’re not happy with your life now, start doing the things that make you feel good again. Don’t wait for a time when you’re motivated. Just pick your unmotivated self up and start doing stuff that makes you feel good about yourself. It won’t take months and months before you’ll feel better. If you just start working out you’ll feel like you’re really on a roll by the third session. You’ll feel better about yourself just like that. So go forth unmotivated people! Buy the healthier food, get a little bit of exercise, and do some sort of breathing/meditation.

Get a hold of your finances and start saving a little bit of money so that each Monday you feel slightly better off than you were the previous Monday. This is an important point that probably merits its own article, but here we are. I think one of the most disheartening things for people going about their daily lives is feeling like they’re no better off this week than they were last week. As humans, we need to feel like our situation is improving, even if only slightly.

Setting a little bit of money aside each paycheck will help you mentally not feel stuck on an endless hamster wheel come Monday morning. Even $20 more in your savings account this week than you had last week will help you feel like you’re making progress.

Don’t wait for the perfect set of circumstances to come together before you get back to a healthier routine. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just start doing the things.

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Here’s a few articles to help you get back to that healthy lifestyle you’re starting today, even though you’re kind of tired and tomorrow would probably be a better day to start life improvements:

The Dad Bod Method- How to Get in Shape When You Can’t Get to The Gym

A Bunch of Weird Things We’re Doing to Be Healthy

The But First Method- How to Eat What You Want and Still Lose Weight