Long-term Recovery

I spent the past couple of weeks recovering from a very annoying cold and arguing with the chillier weather and earlier sunsets (yes, arguing. I stood on the porch shaking my fist at the sky, yelling, “Whyyy!?”)

Whilst preoccupied with this time consuming pursuit, I started focusing less on the things that make me feel good; Gardening, drawing, painting, and of course fitness. The motivation was decreasing and I just felt EXHAUSTED. This scared me. I was starting to feel like I would never get it back, I would never reach my goals, and I wasn’t doing anything to accomplish…well, anything.

This is silly for a few reasons and I will tell you why.

Irrational fear

I have been through this cycle with myself a number of times. It is not just the fitness, but everything. I just loose focus. Mundane things are included in this. Things like cooking, sweeping the floor, laundry. And then there are ‘me’ things like drawing and pilates. I simply don’t want to do it, and I have zero physical energy.

So I do the bare minimum. I don’t want to but I still do because, well, I need clean clothes. When I take a step back and think about it, the bare minimum isn’t as bad as I think it is. However, it is the feeling of lost motivation that makes it seem so much worse.

Merely having such a huge lack of motivation causes me to feel like I am getting nothing done, but it isn’t true!

Take a break, stay awake, for sanity’s sake

I’ll admit to having high standards for myself in terms of my personal feelings of accomplishment. As I said, I’ve been through this cycle with myself before and I have always snapped out of it.

The general melancholy that overwhelms me on occasion and the accompanying exhaustion prevents me from performing any of these strenuous activities (I am including laundry in the strenuous activity category, that is how exhausted I feel). And honestly, quite honestly, I believe that somehow my body and mind shared a conversation that I wasn’t included in. Sometimes the daily routine and schedule, whether strenuous or not, just adds up and my body gets tired. Those of us in the fitness world are champions of ignoring these pangs of tiredness, so I believe my body and my mind communicate and force me to slow down.

I very occasionally over do it and I try to keep things in moderation. However over a long time span, even sustaining a moderately active daily routine gets tiring. When we get tired we should all just take a break and trust that we are all motivated and strong enough individuals to get back on the horse after we are rested.

How about you? Have you ever gotten worn out and wondered why? Do you feel guilty about it?

❤ Cammy