A little over a week ago I was not feeling like myself, in fact, my muscles were sore like I just ran a marathon and did 1000 push-ups at the same time.  I have never had that feeling before and it lasted for quite some time which was concerning.  I actually ended up going to the doctor after day two but all they told me was that it was probably some sort of virus.  Gee thanks for the help doc.

I am happy to say as of this past Monday I was back to myself and feeling 100% again.  I have never had a sickness make my whole body feel like that before and I hope I don’t have it again anytime soon.

Over the past weekend (and through this week), as I was starting to feel better slowly I was reflecting on how bad I felt last week and I realized that I was really bothered by feeling so out of it that whole week.  It wasn’t that the doctors didn’t give me any great advice or cure and it also wasn’t that I was worried I wouldn’t get better (well OK maybe at one point I was a little worried).

What was really bothering me last week was that I never stepped foot outside in the early morning to run!  There were so many times during that week that all I wanted to do was wake up earlier, lace up my shoes, listen to a favorite Podcast or new audiobook, and hit the streets. However, I never did run at all that week as I knew resting my sore body and allowing it to fight whatever virus I had was the best solution.  Thinking back about it now I think the reason it really bothered me was that I had been running at a minimum of 2-3 times per week since January 1st and I was worried that if I didn’t get back out there I might lose the motivation/habit I have created thus far.

It is truly amazing the power of habits (good or bad ones), that once you have formed a habit over a long period of time and stray from it, it can bother you to your core.

I am happy to report, though, I didn’t lose the motivation/habit as of this morning I hit my 3rd run of the week which is pretty normal for me as I try to run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the early mornings.  That schedule has helped me create this habit over time but now that it is more of a routine I am flexible in missing a morning/day as things come up as I know I will find the time to run another day.  Trying to mentally set a schedule or number of times in a given week was something I knew I needed in order to hold myself accountable of my 2016 goal of running.  Some other tips/tricks I have found this year to which have helped to reinforce my habit, especially at the beginning was to just get out there and do it.  As much or little as I could, in the beginning, it didn’t matter as long as I was running during the week.  Another tip I have found is to just talk about it.  I know that sounds a little silly but by talking about running with others and on this blog actually helps energize me to run again and keep the motivation as I have this other strange feeling that I would be letting someone else down.

How about you?  Have you done something so frequently that when you stopped or took a break from it you were scared you could never start up again?  Or have you found any tips or tricks to keep yourself motivated to do something that you want to stick to, I would love to hear about it in the comments below?

 

Check out a previous post I had this year early on talking about the Power of the Habit.