My 3 simple steps to reviving from demotivation
One day, I had this sad reflection on my life. I thought this life that I am doing is a good fit for my strengths and capability until I met with obstacles that I hadn’t met before and eventually broke me down. Since then, I got into a slump, every morning felt so heavy, it took so much effort to show up.
But then, I realized, this is not me. I realized time keeps passing by but I feel so sad for myself that I have become a person I don’t even like. This slump is what brings me to do my own research on how to revive myself from a slump, or what I call here demotivation.
This self-research has the result that is quite good for my life, mornings don’t seem that heavy anymore. I am not in the best state that I ever had, but I know I am getting better. I hope the simple guides here can help everyone who is facing demotivation in this hard time.
1. The awareness that this is my own life that I have to take good care of
When I feel demotivated, I can’t lie that I seek comfort in other people. Mostly it’s a short-term escape and once I go back alone, I realized that I still very am feel demotivated. I wonder, maybe if things in my life become easier, I can feel motivated again. Or maybe, if finally, I get to work at my dream company, I definitely will be more excited every time I wake up.
But the thing is…
I can’t wait for my life to be as what I expect, to be motivated.
The universe doesn’t work like that. I myself am the one who should care the most about what I feel about my life. Everyone is facing the sun and the rains of their life too. If I am not motivated to work things out then there is no single soul in this life that can help me out. Everything comes back to my own choice, anything else is meaningless if I don’t put my own effort to get things right.
Our life is a set of days, when a day is passing by, part of our life is gone too (Hasan Al Basri)
You know, that kind of feeling when the day turns dark... I feel emptiness, go to bed with much-unsolved anxiety and dissatisfaction. But then I face another morning, starting my day with heaviness on my mind… for countless times. I can’t let this go on. Part of my life is wasted mindlessly, caused by the unseen things called demotivation. I can’t see its form, but to be sure, this thing has somehow made me don’t like myself.
Therefore, I declare war on myself. To help myself and eventually, find me.
2. The process of identifying the causes of my demotivation and its pattern
There is a saying, everything happened for a reason(s). It is my responsibility to find the reason for what’s making me feel demotivated. Here is my checklist:
- Since when do I feel this kind of listlessness?
- What is the event that triggers the steadiness of my daily life?
- When do I feel the most anxious?
There must be a pattern. A pattern on why the mornings seem so heavy, why the anxiety keeps exploding.
I will remember the times I feel anxious, if possible, take notes on it. So I can later mitigate why the anxiety appears… by doing an experiment.
3. Do simple experiments as a part of your daily life
In this final step, I think it is the most important and the hardest part as I put so much effort into this. I try to not pushing myself too hard but with mindset that only me who can the best method to get revived.
Experimenting on my sleep routine
I was experimenting with the time I go sleep. I believe the start of our day is in the night rather than the morning. Good sleep is an absolutely impactful weapon to enter the battlefield on the next day. You can try the experiment in every part of your routine. Review the result after doing it for a week. Does the morning feel better?
Experimenting on my morning routine
I was experimenting with my bad habit of sleeping after doing my morning prayer. I have always been aware that I don’t feel that good after that sleep. I feel like it is counterproductive. I feel so sleepy yet I don’t even feel energized after wake up, so I try the experiment on that part. So far, so good. I replace the morning sleep with another activity, like catch up with videos that are waiting on my “Watch Later” list. Not that productive, but not that bad either.
Other than experimenting by “replacing”, I also do “add” another routine which is a 30-mins walk once every 2 days. In this pandemic, I feel so secure when I finish my sunbathing by walking at the time when the sun is getting warm. So far the experiment is doing good to my physical as well as my mentality.
Experimenting on my work routine
This. Actually, I recognize that for me, there is a pattern of anxiety that is caused by a non-organized work routine. So I do experiment on spend a dedicated time in the morning to think what (really) needs to be done. Often I miss out on the most important tasks and it does contribute a lot to my anxiety. So, I encourage myself to spend more time doing good thinking rather than unorganized execution.
Experimenting on my me-time routine
So yeah, I have this bad habit that every time I get off work, I focus too much on relaxing. Like I have this excuse not doing anything because “I am too tired” of work. But the fact is, I am running away. I spend my me-time a lot on YouTube like I even can watch the same videos many times… And I get the pattern. I get so much dopamine in watching meme videos, movie clips, and so on. But I am very well aware that if something is done too much, it will do harm to oneself.
So, I do an experiment by re-organizing my room and I have my bookshelf right beside my bed now. It does wonder as now the books are so easy to reach and yeah, even though I still go back and forth between my phone and my book, I can sense the feeling of balance. I can sense that I still have control over my me-time.
Closing
After I did many experiments in parts of my day-to-day routine, I can see a progress, maybe can’t be seen, but I finally get my motivation back to face new day. Probably it’s a positive feedback that I get after I put effort to control what I am capable of. Maybe the universe is rooting for me to win the war within myself.
The conclusion is: Every time you feel demotivated, please learn the root, the pattern, and start experimenting on any part of your life. Find the “you” that you have been wishing to meet once again.
It is only by being a motivated person, that I can be a good person to my surroundings.
