Motivation Monday ~ Thoughts from Kacie

Hi Everyone!

We hope that you all had a fabulous weekend with lots of laughter and smiles and maybe you got in some great physical activities in too :)

We created Motivation Monday to develop inspiration from within to motivate you through the whole week keeping you strong and confident and on track with your goals. Everyone has a way to motivate themselves in different aspects of their life and sometimes it is harder to find than at other times. It is during those difficult times that it is most important to have a plan that will assist you in achieving that inspiration to keep you on track.

Today's post is inspired by the incredible energy and encouragement that surrounded me during yesterday's triathlon. During a race, many people experience anxiety and uneasiness even fearfulness. As the race goes on, pain and discomfort might set in which can lead to thoughts of failure, disappointment and even the desire to quit. When this occurs, it is very hard to get out of your head and prevent the negative thoughts from taking over but everyone knows that this will only make you feel worse and create more thoughts of needing to quit.

Yesterday, the person experiencing the scenario described above was me. Before we started, I was nervous about how the race was going to go and once it started I had to gather myself and focus on each leg of the race as I completed it. With some minor setbacks during the bike, my mind started doubting my body's capability of completing the event. Focusing on minor discomforts, I convinced myself that I was going too slow and not going to make it. Drew, who somehow always knows when I need some motivation, immediately kept my head in the game, helping dissolve the negativity. This got me through the bike portion but after a poor dismount and transition to the run, I lost it again. As we started our run, I was getting more frustrated with myself because I was not my excited, "ready for more", "let's do it" person I usually am. This brought me down even more. At this moment, I realized that even the people who come across as the toughest and strongest may fall apart if they let their minds give up on themselves. Luckily, I had some external motivation to get myself out of my head and let my body do what it was trained to do. The question wasn't whether I could finish the course like I had hoped, because there was no doubt my body could do it. The limiting factor was my mindset and whether or not I was going to let my mind mess with my performance. Again, Drew was there for me as I was doubting myself and told me to focus only on my next step and my breathing. Letting go was quite the challenge but his encouraging words stayed with me and I held on to them as I centered myself, slowly cleared my mind and found my "happy place" again. 

I apologize for the length of the post  but I wanted to share a personal experience that demonstrated how everyone can lose focus sometimes but it is crucial to get right back on track without any hesitation. Do you think the Olympic athletes let frustration bring them down? They have to create a strategy to use when they encounter these negative thoughts so they can push through and successfully perform. What is important to understand is that the mind adapts and can be changed. You have the power to bring back the empowerment you once had. It is very difficult to do yourself in the moment, as I experienced yesterday, so my suggestion is to think about what really helps lift your spirits when you are feeling your worst and develop a strategy to re-focus your mind when it starts to doubt you. 

Get Fit For August - start thinking about what you want to get done this coming month and make a plan that will take you there! And Don't forget to build in a support system!

Challenge Accepted, 

D & K