The Ice Cream Inquiry: Scooping Up Life and Savoring Sweetness

When your eyes open in the morning light, what gets you out of bed, and into your day? For some, it is their children calling for their attention, their dog needing to be walked, or their boss expecting them to get to work on time.  For others, particularly those who face depression instead of the sunshine, simply pulling back the covers feels like a daunting task. What drives you to motor on when your ‘get up and go has got up and went?’ In my therapy practice, I sit with people who question their motivation to do much more than merely survive from one day to the next, rinse and repeat. They express discouragement about the possibility of change for the better. Some is as a result of what they observed adults in their lives modeling. When I ask them what they learned about ‘adulting skills’ such as sustaining a job, creating a budget, managing a home, maintaining a car, and developing thriving relationships, many shake their heads sadly and say that they were lacking in that type of education. Those who find themselves excelling now, did have healthy role models for motivation. Even those who learned those skills may find themselves struggling to stir up the stimulus needed to succeed. Consider the middle-aged woman who knows she feels better after going to the gym for a workout than she does when contemplating donning her sneakers. Imagine the college student who knows he has a project due that was assigned weeks before but finds himself in a panic when the deadlin...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Motivation and Inspiration Self-Help Source Type: blogs