I Don't Want To!

But Is That In My Best Interest?

Photo by Amit Jain on Unsplash

Last week, I discussed moving into my life’s new pages and chapters. But something often gets in the way - a severe case of “I don’t want to.”

When I was younger, my family and job were motivators - fixing meals, doing the household chores, being at my job on time, and doing what my employer, family, and society asked of me.

Now that I’m older and alone, many of those motivators are gone. Sure, I pay the bills, feed the cats, and do the wash, but nobody complains if I don’t fix appetizing dinners or exercise regularly.

We often use this excuse for not doing things we know - or at least think - would help us age well.

This excuse can be particularly true regarding exercise and cooking healthy meals. It’s a challenge to work out or cook for just one - and it’s easy to ignore exercise or get into the habit of eating frozen foods, using DoorDash, or getting takeout from restaurants.

At least for me, though, there were more aches and pains, and the meals weren’t that good or nutritious when I took the easier route.

This lethargy creeps into everyday living; we may want to avoid cleaning the house, going to the grocery store, washing clothes, or running errands. We prefer to work on the computer, watch television, or read books.

The truth is that even though we don’t want to do certain things, we may have to rethink our position if we are going to age well. As Patti, who writes PaanPrinciples, mentioned in a recent comment, focusing on thriving rather than just surviving.

For example,

• Exercise - We may be more motivated if we stretch out before breakfast, which becomes the reward for doing the exercise. However, that doesn’t work for everyone.

• Eating Habits - We might be more motivated if we thought of cooking as a hobby and experimented with new recipes. In a recent article on Constant Commoner, we talked about Air Fryers and how easy they are to use.

More about that soon.

The Forbes website lists six ways to motivate ourselves when we don’t want to do something.

1. Allow ourselves to take some downtime. Maybe we’re tired.

2. Shake things up. Routines help us get things done automatically, but they can get boring.

3. Work on something else - we feel better when we finish something.

4. Program small wins.

5. Avoid distractions like reading social media.

6. Forgive ourselves. Don’t be too hard if our goals are too ambitious.

We can try these options to motivate ourselves - finding what works best.

However, the most beneficial motivator I have found so far is asking myself: “If my goal really is to age well - then is what I am doing - or not doing - helping me achieve it?” Now, I am my motivator.

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If you want to contribute to my work,  consider donating to the Alzheimer's Association. This link takes you to their website. The choice is yours.