Friends, I’m in need of some advice.
What do you do when you find yourself sitting in front of the TV every weekend, thinking about how you wished you’d get out and about more, then settling straight in for another 8 hours of the latest true crime doco series?
I’m stuck in a rut of social media, TV, movies and the occasional, short trip outside to douse my body with some much-needed Vitamin D.
I want to do more things in nature. I want to have new experiences and interact with new people. I want to expand the list of topics I can talk about when having a conversation with someone. I want to be interesting.
People who get out there and make these things happen for yourselves – how do you keep motivated? How do you decide what you’re going to do on a particular day? What does a weekend look like to you? How do you keep a good variety of activities happening within your lifestyle, rather than doing the same old stuff over and over again?
How do you kick your own butt out of a lazy, stale lifestyle and into an active, fulfilling one?
Please let me know your suggestions in the comments or message me directly, if you prefer. I’m up Schitt’s Creek without a paddle…but I do have a steady supply of snacks, unwashed hair and a lack of motivation that I could provide as payment for your help.
Thanks in advance! I’m looking forward to hearing some suggestions. Please. Save me from myself.
Kates
pray4kates 
Hello there,
I once found myself I’m the same position during my uni days. 4 years of uni lifestyle (beer, Doritos and late night kebabs) caught up with me to the point where I cringed even looking at photos of myself from 2012-13. Luckily I moved into an apartment with my best friend who happened to be lactose intolerant, so real milk and cheese went out the window. Shortly after we moved in, we found out he had a bit of a gluten/weat allergy so suddenly his diet became lean, green and risk averse for fear of painting the bathroom a deadly shade of baby-poo brown. Still being at Uni, I also adopted the changes out of financial security (cooking for 2 is cheaper than for 1!).
We also agreed that our lack of sport was bad for us and wanted to do something active, so we signed up for tough Mudder to give us a motivational goal to work towards. I’ll tell you now, nothing motivates like the fear of certain death (you actually sign a death waiver that covers serious injury, burns, organ failure leading to or not otherwise relating to death). I started this journey at 95kg and after 6 months of changed diet (weatbix, sandwiches, muesli bars and home cooked dinners) and weekly exercise (jogging along the beach/jogging paths, weights and almost no gym) I lost 12kg and felt great without even noticing. I realised that going for a jog was great for my mental health as well, and gave me a great opportunity to listen to music, and actually gave me more energy than I thought I had even on days without exercise. This did wonders for my self esteem.
From then we did tough Mudder at a painfully slow pace, but completed it. You get offered a half price ticket for the following year so of course I signed up again, and in the second year completed the course in under 3 hours.
Bottom line is this:
1. Motivation – set a realistic goal ( 12 months until tough Mudder currently!)
2. Change in dietry habits – don’t go on a diet…change the way you approach food to cut out excess sugar/fat. Being prepared with meals for lunch during the week, healthy breakfasts (low fat/sugar cereal and/or Berry’s and/or yoghurt) and home made dinners makes a huge difference. Learn to control portion sizes not to the size of the plate but the size of your stomach.
3. Make time for exercise – jogging is free, or join a gym and/Or find friends that want to join you.
Not to say you can’t enjoy chocolate or alcohol in between all the above, or a weekly Netflix binge. But after a while you’ll start to realise that streaming media is a one way system, throwing information at you. But life is better when you can interact with your medium of entertainment (jogging, writing, singing, reading) and way more fulfilling!
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This is exactly the kind of helpful comment I was hoping for. I struggle with motivating myself to do the things that I know will be beneficial in the long run, that you don’t often see an immediate benefit from. Short term goals might be most realistic for me until I get used to utilising self-restraint.
Just don’t try and convince me to do Tough Mudder for I will certainly perish.
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Heck, can Keneth be my life coach?
There are loads of good tips in there.
I personally hate jogging; I feel move like a wheel that is square shaped. I much prefer cycling (round wheels)
Also, I sign up to team sports that train during the week. If I don’t show up, I’m letting the team down. I was really flat on Tuesday after a work day in 36 degree heat, and arrived at AFL where the first thing we did was the farking beep test. But I felt better afterwards.
Weekend motivations: there are an endless list of jobs to do around my house. But, if I don’t plan it the night before I find it really hard to get into it.
Such as now. Lying on my bedroom floor. Might watch the cricket.
My trips (big ones overseas and small weekend getaways) have all been decided in advance.
For instance me and james were meant to be going to Moreton island sometime ‘soon’ – November was the target but it’s nearly at its end. Just gotta book that shit – pick a weekend and go for it. (Although I’m glad we didn’t – they evacuated a lot of the island due to bushfires a week or so ago)
Also, plants are cool when they flower and stuff.
And finally, I used to have a list of things to do categorised in small, medium and large (mainly house jobs) And a list of ‘things to look forward to’
Life can be super rut-ty sometimes fren.
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Hmm, cycling is good! That reminds me that I should head to the National Park and do some kayaking now that Summer is back in action! That’s something I tend to do as well, re. booking trips. I’ll have an idea and it’ll stay as just that…an idea. I’m planning on turning my balcony into a mini rainforest with plants everywhere in the near future – that will help to get me out onto the balcony, at the very least. I must make a list of all of these things! Thank fren. Much help. V nice.
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In the movies people spin a globe to determine where to go on holiday. Why not scale that puppy back and pick a suburb of Sydney you haven’t bought a coffee in before, or a beach you haven’t bought ice cream at before, or a national park you haven’t flattened a mosquito in before.
Point is you don’t have to have grand plans all the time to have the most interesting of stories. Just get out there with rhyme or reason for the trip other than to discover.
For best results, throw a friend or two in the car with you. At the very least they can subsidize your fuel costs.
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Hell yeah. Solid advice. I love it.
This has prompted me to put together a list of all ice-creameries in the Sydney region and work towards testing out all of them – one flavour at a time. The remainder of my life will be spent exercising and attempting to outrun the diabeetus.
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