your deepest, brightest goal
(It sounds much happier than “darkest” ha)
Hi friends! How’s the day going? Hope you’re enjoying the afternoon. Sorry I’m a little later blogging today than usual! I ended up having to get my blood work done today instead of yesterday (long story, which involved me leaving the box which contained the vials in the Pilot’s car), so it threw the morning off a bit. In good news, no fainting occurred.
Snuggling with the firstborn:
The weather is still cloudy and cool, which makes me just want to curl up inside and watch movies or read a book. Bella agrees.
Last night, Ashley and I had a girls night while the guys hung out with the kiddos.
Dinner at True Food,
(Kale salad with salmon + “the natural” to drink, which was lemon, ginger and honey)
A little shopping
(Hey, Pilot! I found you an outfit. Heh. I did end up getting another one of these tanks. I picked up one in Tucson and have deemed it the new favorite. A head’s up: they run small, so I get a size up from my normal lulu size.)
and Pitch Perfect 2.
Since we both loved the original, we were really excited to see the new one. I had seen some of the previews, which didn’t give me the highest hope for the actual film. I love the singing, but Pitch Perfect is a fave because of the comedy (to me, the perfect mix of cheesy, off-color and awkward), and many of the previews focused on the music. Thankfully, the hilarity was totally there, in addition to some sweet mash-ups. It’s definitely not a movie that will profoundly impact your life, but I can tell it will be another one that I watch more than once!
This morning, noodle and I had some banana oatmeal and banana pancakes,
and are heading off on a little adventure!
In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to talk about weather and how it impacts motivation, and motivation in general. I’ve been fortunate to live in fairly mild locales (despite the Tucson sweltering heat and that Georgia crazy hair humidity), but was wondering how my friends who live in snow or consistently rainy climates stick with their routines. I think in the end, you just do what you need to do and adjust as needed. Motivation is an interesting thing; it ebbs and flows, and a drop in motivation can be a wake-up call to make some changes. Find something different or new to add some excitement.
(Can’t wait to get out paddle boarding again!)
Last week in yoga teacher training, we were talking about goals and how they have to be something much deeper than a superficial to-do in order to be motivational. For example, “I want to live a long and healthy life so I can be with my family and play with my kids and then grandkids” is going to have a deeper impact than “I want to lose 10 vanity pounds.” It was an interesting conversation, and definitely something I’m going to use with training clients from now on. I always ask about goals, but I think it will be beneficial to go much deeper than the surface. Because, if you can simply attain each goal within in a short time span, it’s easier to fizzle out or become overwhelmed with the “what’s next?”
I’d love to hear your deepest fitness/health goals if you’d like to share. Has anyone seen Pitch Perfect 2? What do you think: sequel or OG?
Hope you have a wonderful afternoon!
xoxo
Gina
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Interesting look at the goals… I think it’s not necessarily that a goal should be DEEPER rather than superficial, but a goal needs to address the issues that each of us as individuals care about the most. If we can get at the real fundamental reasons for why we want to get somewhere (for example, the REAL reason we want to lose weight – whether it’s to look good in photos and feel more confident or reduce our cholesterol levels so we can live a quality life for longer), then we’ll definitely stand a greater chance of ACHIEVING those goals.
I’ve gotta try paddle boarding. And Pitch Perfect 2, while not as good as the first one, was still really well done! Much better than most sequels 😉
The weather totally affects my motivation and my mood! Though the latter became more prevalent since my dad passed away two years ago – I find it hard to shake the sad on dreary days. On a positive note, this has improved with time!
We have cold crappy weather from like November to March/April (if we are lucky) and to go along with that cold weather are dark mornings and nights. I definitely think it’s something you just adapt to. It’s certainly not my favourite and I’m loving the warm and bright morning runs these days.
I like the idea of deeper goals… kind of like a long term goal. Mine would be to be happy, healthy and grateful. However, I think to achieve those goals you need the smaller, SMART type goals that have more specific guidelines, and be things that would help you achieve the deeper goal (ie if losing weight would help you be more healthy [if that’s the big goal], then it would aid your deeper goal and be worthwhile). So in my mind, both kinds have their place!
this is such a great thought. there really is so much value in asking the question “why?” of the goals we set for ourselves. the why is what makes it worth it to get out of bed at 5am and put in the work.
I definitely liked Pitch Perfect better than the sequel, but very rarely is the sequel better. I thought it was really cute though!
I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon again. I’ve run four times, but not since 2012. I’ve hit a bit of a plateau with my running and need to jump start it again. I know strength training more regularly and yoga would help but there are only so many hours in the day!
My motivation during the snowy winters definitely comes in a different form than the spring/summer/fall. I am definitely a fairweather runner, so it just doesn’t happen during the winter, but is much more appealing when it warms up. During the winter, the promise of 100 degree rooms gets me to hot yoga a lot more!
Although I do have the ‘vanity motivation’ of wanting more muscle definition or a few lbs of fat gone, I think the overarching motivation for taking care of my health is a lot longer term than that. I know how great and how much more confident I feel when I’m eating whole foods and working out consistently, and want to maintain that as I start and raise a family in the future. I also really get motivation and satisfaction from recognizing the benefits my body is getting, and that encourages me to keep treating it well long-term.
Off to see Pitch Perfect 2 tonight!
Interesting thought on the goals. I feel like I’m always chasing everything I want to get it right now, this second. Then once I get it I’m a little sad because it’s already over. I think enjoying the process of getting there is something we all could do better.
I loved Pitch Perfect 2 just as much as the original which totally surprised me. I didn’t think it could be as good but I laughed the whole time!
I haven’t seen the second one yet but it’s on my list. Ive been playing the soundtrack again to the first one while Im in the shower bc I forgot how much I like to sing along to it. Glad you were able to get away for a girls night…looks like you had a fun time!
I used to set myself up for huge goals – awesome for sure, but there were too many at once and I would end up spinning myself in circles. I am working towards getting better at setting small goals with measurable steps and not doing everything at once!
Weather is a huge motivator, but sometimes you just have to work around it unfortunately!
I just wrote about goals today! My 2 biggest goals right now are pretty “surface.” I recently got back into running. I used to be pretty fast, but I’m out of practice. Doing Insanity made me realize that I still have the capability to build up my cardiovascular endurance… so that being said… I want to run a sub 7 minute mile and I want to place in a 5k in my age group!
Just do it! Winters are dark, chilly, and wet in Hamburg. But the Nike slogan works every time. I admit, though, I am way more active in summer than winter. I figure it’s ok for humans to hibernate in winter a little bit too.
I totally loved Pitch Perfect 2. It’s not any sort of life altering movie but I find it hilarious! and the inappropriate commentary during the performances just makes it.
The weather definitely plays a huge part in my motivation, even if I don’t want it to! I live in Vancouver BC which as most of us know is veryyy rainy during the winter months, so I have to did real deep to find that motivation and still go workout even though its dark and rainy out! But then the amazing summer comes along with little to NO rain (hallelujah!) and I feel like the most motivated person ever! Haha I have always been jealous of people like you in Cali who get sun all year round! But instead of having a solo pity party every day in the winter, I’ve decided to just suck it up and get out that door and remind myself I can have a hot shower when done! 🙂
I haven’t even seen the first Pitch Perfect! I don’t really like musicals but I guess it’s more of a modern musical/comedy? Is musical even the right word? I don’t know. I’m so out of the loop.
OMG that looks like the Borat ManKini!!
HAHAH you’re right!
I really had to think about this one. I don’t think I’ve ever really articulated this before but I think my fitness and health motivation stems from a belief that living a healthy and active life is the best life to live and my goal is to live my best life.
Winters here in Wisconsin can be LOOONNNGGG! When the weather is too cold or snowy, I take my running to the treadmill. It can be hard to find motivation to workout, especially when it’s dark as I’m leaving work, BUT that’s where goals come in 🙂 I set a goal of going to the gym/fitness class at least 5 times a week. I want to be healthy, strong and set a good example and healthy body image for my daughter.
Love these thoughts about goals. I normally don’t have a problem with staying motivated to workout– I like to do a pretty wide range of activities, so when I get tired of the gym, I start going to more yoga classes. When I get tired of going to the yoga studio (rarely), I take a month of kickboxing.
But… I am pregnant, and my first trimester was very difficult. I was sleeping 14-16 hours (like a rock) a day, not leaving much time for exercise, and I have been struggling to get motivated and build my strength back up. I keep reminding myself that right now, I am exercising for the health of my baby, and so I can have energy to take care of him when he’s born, and that is helping. I just have to adjust my expectations of what I can do– because I am certainly not doing near the workouts I used to do, and even things like long walk and slow swims, which used to be my “active rest”, I am now counting as a win for the day.
My fitness/health goal is to be awesome until I die. I want to be fit enough to do whatever I want for my entire life: walk my dogs and go on hikes, play with my kids/grandkids/great grandkids, travel and be able to explore, lift groceries/furniture/whatever I need to, etc. I want to avoid any lifestyle disease that I can. I want to look good and feel good.
Im in the middles of a 10 week dinachyarya (rooted in Ayurveda) with a well known and respected for anusara yoga teacher and much of our recent discussion has centered around weather and seasons and their tie to our bodies. Not only do we have a dosha constitution…vata, pitta, kapha or a combo, but the cycles of the day and the seasons do as well. Ie: 10am-2pm is a pitta time and lfall/early winter is vata. Learning to tune our body to the rhythm of nature makes motivation and habit forming much easier!
that is so interesting! my acupuncturist talked to me a bit about this and how during certain seasons we should eat warming foods and during others to focus on cooling. i’m confused about the personal dosha, though, because i’m equally vata and pitta. what do we do when our constitutions are opposites?
Have a look at the Complete Ayurvedic Workbook. It’s got some great info, as does the Chopra Center’s website. I’m tridoshic and I generally flow with the seasons but get out of balance easily. You want to learn to identify the gunas and what characteristics match what dosha. From there you can begin to tell when your dominant dosha is out of balance. It’s then that you shift your eating and activity to help bring you in balance. IE: if a pitta is out of balance, he/she should eat cooling foods…steer clear of heated drinks and spicy foods, and high intensity workouts…option for more yin/restorative yoga, walking, etc. Whereas is a kapha is out of balance and feeling very heavy, low, depressed…more tapas and heat in the food and workout realm will help shift the scales. Ayurveda is a fascination study!
i will definitely check it out. thank you!!
This is probably (well definitely) TMI, but one of my biggest motivational factors for maintaining my workouts and eating healthy is the health of my relationship. I feel so much more confident when I keep up my healthy habits (even if it doesn’t necessarily equate to weight loss), and it makes *ahem* “playing the piano” much more enjoyable for me (which my fiance obviously loves!) This has been an issue for us (my low confidence level, not that he ever says I’m anything other than smokin’ 😉 ) in the past when I wasn’t keeping up healthy habits, so it always kind of stays in the back of my mind as motivation when I start getting off track.
loved this so much 🙂
I agree 100% that to make a goal last, for it to matter, it has to have some long-term life-altering motivation behind it. When years ago, I was making (what I thought was) healthy choices for vanity reasons, that brought me to a terrible place. Over the years though, as I’ve learned about true health and opened my perspective on why I want to be healthy, it’s completely changed and balanced it all out. I want to take good care of myself for not only me, but for my family – to be with my husband, child(ren), and loved ones for as long as I’ve got, and to be able to truly enjoy all of that time I get to be here with them!
Oh, the weather. I live in the mountains of NC and every winter I get SAD. My husband even begins to joke in October….Oh no, Amanda’s going to fall into her deep dark depression. So, I slack off from my exercise. Isn’t it funny that when we really need to do something the most, we don’t? Every winter I vow that I’m going to make more of an effort to exercise and feel better.
When its sunny and warm during the summer, I am so much more motivated and even eat so much healthier.