There are a lot of people struggling with different things at this time – whether it be financially, mentally, or spiritually. But one thing I know for sure is the struggle is real, now more than ever, to stay motivated. We wake up in the morning without a planned day, nowhere to be, no prior engagements, so what’s the point? The point is to keep yourself sane. If there’s one thing our generation puts an emphasis on, it’s the importance of mental health.
Right now is a time we don’t have any external outputs to support our mental health. Heck, I can’t even go on a run without coronavirus being yelled at me on the street. So what’s our part in this whole pandemic? Wake up and show up for yourself. Doing this can bring structure to your life and help maintain your mental health. Granted, showing up for ourselves every day might look a little different for everyone.
Show up for those things you’ve been neglecting like that workout you’ve put off 5 times during this quarantine, that book you look at every morning that’s collecting dust and staring right back at you, that fun recipe you keep saving instead of cooking, or that laundry pile that keeps getting bigger and bigger but you don’t really care because it’s not like you need those clothes to go anywhere. I heard this saying once, loud and clear. “THERE IS NO SECRET FORMULA TO SUCCESS.” You have to take that first step and take action, then comes the motivation that follows.
Let’s talk about taking a few days off. I am all here for taking a rest day to catch our breath and re-center ourselves. One day of rest? Perfect! You need another day? Go for it. Three days of rest? Honey, these aren’t rest days anymore. You’ve strapped in for a long ride, and it’s become a vacation now, snap out of it.
Remember the time where you had school, work, internships, sport practices, and meetings? We miss it now, so incredibly much. Did we ever realize how many times we said I can’t cook because I literally have no time. Or I want to read this book, but I never have time and I’m so tired after work. Before this, we never had time and we complained about it very often. So now that we have literally all the time in the world, what’s our excuse? What is happening right now has never happened in our lifetime. This is an extremely rare situation. The crazy thing is, some of us will never get any of this time back.
There will never be another time in our lives like this where we will have so much room and opportunity to get things done, so be sure to take advantage of this moment and make time for the things you always put off when you were busy.
At the start of the week, make yourself a list of things you would like to accomplish by the end of the week and start there. Think about all of the things we didn’t have time for during the time our lives controlled us and we didn’t control our lives. You’re in control now. Build good habits and foundations for yourself while you have the opportunity.
