Getting Back Mojo
This week has been rather interesting. Why do you ask? Well for one my food intake, carbs especially, continue to go up.
Now with this particular change in diet I was expecting to be feeling amazing and crush my workouts.
Instead for some reason my body has stayed at its current weight and I have felt more tired, fatigued quicker, and just not as mentally sharp in and outside the gym.
Compounding this with outside work that needs to be done, my mental capacity is being tested.
This testing has hit time and time again since I started my weight loss journey in my college years.
How do we all juggle the multiple facets of life and still make it to the gym? Make changes? Progress?
For me I tend to try and compartmentalize most things (so everything has its time or place) however the past couple of weeks I have had a wake up call and my work life has spilled over.
I think this spill over is the ultimate reason for the weird sensation I have felt the past week.
I will say after this particular wake up call there is one thing that keeps circling around in my mind.
The concept that each person has a stock or value associated with them.
Now taking that stock or value at any given time this particular marker of a person has both its ups and downs. Some days, weeks, months, or years our stock is up and some days, weeks, months, or years our stock goes down.
Why I bring this up is because I personally feel like my stock ,"Mojo", is down at the moment.
For instance I graduated college with my second degree (stock should be up), however I had started working a full-time position at a new company, starting at the bottom (stock is down), compound that with starting a new life in a new city, hardly know anyone, trying to start a personal training career, and becoming an adult.
HELLO Adult life, bills, and you get the list.... lol
The pressures, tasks, and small things that normally wouldn't irritate me came to light and have put more on me than I thought. Trying to figure it all out and make it work together has really zapped my energy.
This has shown in the past couple of months, weeks, days and this is why I feel my current stock is down.
So with a low stock how do we get it back up?
Personally I'm a creature of habit and most people tend to be. Does it bother me that I don't seem to be firing on all cylinders in more than one area of life? You bet it does.
I can say though the one thing I truly believe when my stock goes down, is I have to trust the process of getting through all of it.
How we approach a low area or lull in life can be a make or break moment for all of us. I simply believe that if I just keep at it and get through the low period when a high period or my stock goes back up the rewards will be far greater than giving up, never knowing, or never trying.
My low periods physically in the gym have brought about some of the best growth I have ever seen. The growth of a mental giant that is.
Think about it like this: you are in the squat rack and its the first set of your workout, you feel alright but not wanting to totally ripe the gym down around you. A little sore, tight, rough, stiff in your joints, and everything in your body is nagging you saying "Just take today off, just do light weight, cut out early."
In that split second you have two options, the one where your keep your stock low for another day or the one where you start building your stock back up.
I try and choose building my stock up now, there was a time when I would have just taken it easy and coasted, not anymore. So I might not be feeling squats okay, lets substitute in reverse hack squats going heavy and just go.
When your stock is down its alright to change things a little but don't stop. Let your body struggle and fail, let your mind struggle and fail, and let the cycle struggle and fail. This has been the only way I have been able to make a lifestyle change.
I expect to fail now and actually seek it out in almost all areas of my life. It pin-points a weakness of mine. Something to work on and increases my stock in the long run.
However, I truly think you mentally grow when your stock is down.
Whenever its highlighted for me in a particular area I have noticed that my mind starts thinking in different ways. I view situations different, listen a little differently, try something a little different, slow things down, and re-evaluate myself.
Its growth at its finest and revolves around the common gym mantra of its not your body you have to convince its your mind!
Unlocking your mind, filling it with positive thoughts, figuring out ways to up your stock again is a fundamental in change.
It pushes you past a limit that you have mentally set and breaks down the walls to allow you to install a building block of positivity and knowledge you can call on to increase your stock. This increased stock compounds over time. So If you start having a another lull you already have that building block and know how to start digging your self out.
You already know you can push past that little barrier in-front of you and know that whatever the reward is, its worth it.
The other thing is knowing everyone goes through this. From pro-athletes, millionaires, actors, actresses, entrepreneurs, to the smallest kid on the playground. Recognizing this revels the most abundant source of inspiration, motivation, and ultimately the best data base for change.
Someone has already been there and upped their own personal stock and can help you along the way in forging something you personally believe in. All we have to do is ask! I'm still asking questions today, even when it kills me.
When someone mentions my stock has gone down it makes me hungry, pissed off, and just hurt that I let myself get to that stage.
However, once I get to that stage I start putting building blocks together to get out of it, raise my stock, and ultimately build a ladder that someone else in the future can use to increase there stock if they so choose.
Together we can forge one anothers forever, whether they be the same or different, forging starts with increasing your stock. When you hit that wall you go around, over, under, or through it anyway possible!!! Have a blessed holiday!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. Thank for your time!
-The Iron Pulse Beats with in you
