Inspiration and Motivation: How to find and maintain it?

self-care
#1

Hey guys, I’d like to hear from you what do you do to stay motivated in your self care, what things do you actively do? Where do you find the inspiration and motivation to actively pursue self growth and care for yourselves? And how do you try to inspire your loved ones if they are not practicing self care?

This is what I’ve found that really works for me, going to the gym 4 times a week, making sure I drink enough water and only water, eating consciously and avoiding foods that in my opinion don’t help me healthwise. Practicing some form of meditation, I like to simply get outside and go for a walk for an hour. And lastly always learning how I can do better, reading about self growth, one book I read over and over is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I watch alot of videos on diet and fitness. The way I keep myself going honestly is just the idea that why nor be the healthiest I can be? I have one body and mind so why shouldn’t I try to optimize them and keep them in peek performance so I can best deal with whatever life throws at me.

#2

Love this question thanks for asking it @Dean_Acton !

When my husband went into rehab 3 years ago I learned vedic meditation - it’s a 2x 20min daily practice. In all that time I’ve never missed a morning session. But this is a good reminder that I’ve been getting busy and missing my afternoon one lately (stressed at work).

I generally eat pretty well. Exercise is very helpful for mood-boosting for me but I tend to let it slide first when I’m stressed and not sleeping enough (reminder to sleep more :)).

I’ve found that my self-care rubs off on my husband. If I get up on a saturday and vaccum the apartment, then he’ll be more motivated to pick up his washing etc.

If I walk to work everyday, he’ll be motivated to join.

It doesn’t work all the time. But my self care directly impacts his well-being. This was all to evident when a couple weeks back I was incredibly stressed at work and he relapsed with cocaine :frowning: he said he felt alone, I was right there but I was busy.

Sort of reminded me how much responsibility I still have in this relationship, and how we need to expand our social family to make sure either one of us can take a self-care hit and not take the other down with us!

Super interested in other’s experiences on this topic too. Thanks again for asking @Dean_Acton <3

#3

@polly this is awesome! Really shows how our own self care habits can directly effect our partners progress and personal self care and how truly important it is to keep ourselves healthy and motivated not just for ourselves but for those around us. Awesome :blush: just reading this makes me want to clean my house and go for a run

#5

@Dean_Acton thank you for being the best human being you can be! I believe we are all deeply connected, and your personal health radiates out and touches the whole world. The biggest example we set for others is through actions and our own personal mission statement.

It’s great that you go to the gym. When I make it to exercise, it is such a powerful stress release and I feel physically great, too. I try to remember to take care of the basics - enough sleep, nutrition, exercise, being in a caring community, and also a spiritual practice - meditation is very powerful, indeed.

Something else I hear mentioned in my recovery group is self-compassion and being aware of self-talk (is it loving, patient, gentle, etc.).

Just as you would want your loved one to take good care of her/himself, that is how you and I should take care of ourselves.

Perhaps you can find a friend to work out with, or join a supportive spiritual or recovery community (which you’ve already done online). Having face-to-face contact with a caring and supportive community is a very healing experience, I have found. The only way I have found to heal other people is to deeply embrace my own healing and transformation - and it definitely helps!

Best wishes to you and your loved ones!

#4

haha omg me too @Dean_Acton I’m looking around and I need to do some tidying :wink: I will if you will haha <3

#6

Great question @Dean_Acton. it actually kinda hits me in the gut! I’ve been dealing with some of my own anxiety & depression lately, and it makes the motivation piece so hard. I’ve really dropped a lot of my habits recently.

I’m working on rebuilding my meditation practice - maybe similar to @polly. I like Loving Kindness Meditation. Essentially, you pick a loving, kinda mantra (there are some traditional ones, or you can choose your own adventure - ex. “May I be happy.”). Then you say that 5x/10x/however many you want about yourself, about someone you love, about someone whom you feel neutral, someone who you feel hostile (you can expand outward to all peoples or all animals, etc) while visualizing those people.

I do 5x per person, and it takes under 10 minutes. Seems like an easy entry point to get back into my practice of self-care! I literally don’t need to put on workout pants or even get off the couch, and I feel so much lighter afterward.

My husband is the King of self-care. Eats well, exercises daily, has good sleep hygiene, regular meditation practice, etc. So, like we’ve said here, self-care rubs off… I try to use his discipline as a reminder to me. When he meditates, so do I.

#7

Love this @Dean_Acton! Exercise, laughing, sleeping well, and deep breathing help me! I mentioned taking a walk with my brother in the post on how to help our loved ones relax but I forgot to mention that I also broke out my yoga skills in our living room, and this hyped my brother up to join me. I taught him a simple flow (I am by no means a yoga instructor, it just helps me get out of my head), and we went through it a few times together and he said he felt amazing after! It reminded me how important my yoga practice is, as well as encouraged him to find healthy ways to get out of his own head. He then asked me for a “prescription” for this new yoga practice and I wrote it out for him to have some fun with it: “Forward fold, jump or step to plank, down dog, right leg up, right leg through the hands, warrior one, hands down, step back to plank, down dog, left leg up, left leg through the hands, warrior one, and repeat 3x/day”!

I echo what @polly mentioned about how much responsibility we have in the relationships and sometimes our efforts work and sometimes they don’t, and @Julie_Smith in finding a community face-to-face helps maintain motivation and inspiration by seeing others do well and being accountable to others in our own self-care practices.

Happy self-caring everyone!