Motivation

I wrote a reflection not long ago about motivation and why some people have it and others don't. It had me thinking about some people being firecrackers and big achievers and others like me who can't ever seem to find the gene to turn it on. it seems to me that we are all wired differently and at different stages and phases of life. Our passions and purpose are so varied and that's what motivates us into action or complacency. For those of us in the autumn years(the later years of our life) motivation is very different we aren't necessarily trying to hustle and gain traction for building an empire or creating the perfect life for our growing family, we are more looking at what our legacy will be and how we can begin to learn or do the things we have always wanted to do and have n0t had the time or money to do. So our motivation is more about doing for enjoyment and pleasure not for success. having said that there are still many areas that are still competitive and indeed self-competitive.

Motivation may then become more of what is it that feels right to me and my body.

What sets me on edge and feels wrong vs what really feels good and right to explore more of?

Recently I have been seriously questioning what motivates me and I will be honest I haven't found much. But then I wonder if it is that due to the word, maybe I don't resonate with it! Is perhaps passion or purpose a better word to use to see what I'm passionate about?

This doesn't exactly feel right either!

Motivation seems to be as selective and individual as the person and as broad as the population. the moods and emotions of each one of us in that given moment. many of us feel pressured in some way to do and be highly successful or the best in our area or field. But what if that success is really a cover for the burnout that you have been feeling for so long but don't know how to change because it's now a well-worn habit? What if you get no enjoyment or fun from what you're doing but actually resentment and a feeling of being trapped?

What if it's not complacency or lack of motivation but burnout and a habit that you can't seem to change?

This has been my journey. For decades I have been hard on myself.

Why aren't I motivated to create my own business when I feel I want to? Why aren't I motivated to improve my lifestyle or my financial situation?

All the whys with no answers just more driving myself crazy questions. Then I heard the term burnout and looked at what it meant for me. It meant that what I had been feeling for decades was burnout putting everything else before me, even the need to find motivation. when my motivation all along was to find the answer to me feeling tired, flat, numb, disconnected, a robot in my own body.

My motivation was and is to recover from burnout.

So how do you recover from burnout? That is something I am still working on after 3 decades of living with burnout, it's not an overnight fix, it is a slow process. One that I hope to live long enough to see the results of, for now with my limited understanding as I work on myself at an inner level and begint o listen and feel my body, learning limited things about my nervous system without fully diving into being a professional it that I need to allow myself time to feel and heal. To use my motivation as a tool to allow the time it takes for me to find that space that isn't burned out and allow myself the gift of knowing that the most primal part of my nervous system is activated when my burnout is feeling the highest and that it is my go-to pattern to drop into this space and disconnect. This is the part of my nervous system that shuts down or collapses and becomes unavailable when I feel overwhelmed by too much, too quickly. It becomes unavailable, and this is a long-term habit of at least 2 decades that I am aware of.

I have been hard on myself my whole life I have pushed myself far too hard for the betterment of others' lives and not my own. I agree to do things when I don't feel comfortable doing them. When I don't want to say yes, but I do!

Giving myself the gift of time is the best thing I can do for motivation and action. it is the way forward for me.

So what is motivation? For me, it feels like the driver or catalyst for change! The change that potentially can create a better version of who we are beyond the patterns and stories we live and breathe the ones passed onto us, the ancestral cultural and societal stories and the ones we instil in ourselves at any age.

This is my version of motivation, so I say to you dear reader if you don't feel motivated by the gym, the newest buzz craze, the money-making ideas or platforms, the latest scheme to look 20 years younger, have the fittest healthiest body or whatever it is that makes you cringe and say Aargh!

Then that's okay maybe you need to look at what your passion has been for the past decade or so and turn it around to see that maybe just maybe you are motivated you just haven't realised it.

Never forget that different ages and life stages are motivated by different reasons.

These are my own reflections I am not a professional coach or motivator. I hope in some way you are seeing things from a different perspective.