I made use of my time as a porcupine today, and figured out mostly this entire blog today while laying in the doctors office with my body chocked full of needles. It’s a great time to let my mind wonder and actually think for an hour, since I work hard to mostly distract myself with television and the internet most of the time, so that I don’t HAVE to think.
The Serenity Prayer:
“God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference.”
I think I would like to swap the word “courage” for “motivation”, and I think I will when I pray this out loud in the future. Courage is not something I lack. In general I have found that most people dealing with chronic pain do not lack courage, more so then the rest of the population. But motivation? It’s very very easy for me to lack the motivation to change or do the things I can.
I feel like I have accepted so much: the powerlessness of my disabilities, the powerlessness of being unable to do so many things, that it seems to make it more difficult for me to do the things I am able to do and need to do. Because of not being able to have a job or go to school, I am pretty much on no one’s timetable, so not having a “due date” or time limit on my activities, is pretty damn unmotivating at times.
No one is nagging me or reprimanding me for not doing the things I have to and am able to do. Therefor, it’s up to me. I am so used to getting stuck, and having flares and exhaustion, that I am used to not being able to do much, and I am very used to accepting that. Also, the depression that waxes and wanes and comes tagging along with most chronic illnesses/chronic pain, makes it difficult to motivate.
So how do I get the motivation to do what I need to do and what I can do? For me, just realizing that I am unmotivated and procrastinating is part of the solution. Awareness. Mmmm duhhhhh. Another part is setting 5 reminders in my phone 20 minutes apart, so that it keeps going off till I do it. If I just set one reminder, it’s too easy for me to “dismiss” or “ignore” it. And lastly, my favorite and probably the best one, is to force myself to just do it like Nike! Just do it right now! Get it out of the way! Then also rewarding myself for doing what I don’t really want to or feel like doing is a good motivation too.
I haven’t actually written a new blog in a while, because I haven’t had the motivation! So writing this is working out the motivation for me, just doing it, and helping to motivate me to do other things I don’t want to do and have let pile up. Like medical stuff I have to deal with calling people over the phone, and filling out forms, both of which I despise.
What are you all unmotivated to do? And how can or will you motivate yourself to do the the things that are not motivated to do? I can definitely use more ideas and tips in this area 😉 Thank you!
Divinely Differently Abled 
Wonderfully written my friend, loved this post!
Thanks mi amiga 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 Soft hugs and much love to ya girl
This was a great entry lady! It’s something I’ve been struggling with a lot lately. When it comes to procrastination, I feel like I could be deemed queen sometimes. I found that the best thing for me is to stand up and start moving. It sounds so simple but a lot of times all I want to do is press the snooze button, or drink one more cup of coffee before I get up and begin to get things done. Forcing myself to get going is starting to actually work for me. I also have to talk myself into it, reminding myself that after I get whatever it is that needs to get done, done, I will feel so much better. There’s a few other things I do, like force myself to get off the damn internet……need to do now….. LOVE YOU!
Thanks for your comment and for reading it Alex 🙂 Means a lot to me. I have trouble with FOCUS too, something I’ve been aware of lately. And that seems to go hand in hand with procrastination and motivation for me. For example: while going through my emails tonight, I was tempted to get on Facebook, and flit about and do other things on and off line, and I had to stop myself like “No! Finish going through your damn emails woman! You can do that other shit later!” Lol 😉 It’s so easy to do, and in this day and age, with television and the internet and games and social networks so at large, even easier to do than it used to be to become easily distracted or demotivated. Progress girl, not perfection 😉 I love you too so much, and I can’t wait to see you soon!!!!!!!