Dealing with a patch of low motivation

I've learned that part of maintaining stable happiness means dealing positively and constructively with low patches when they occur, as they do even in the happiest life. I had one of these the other day, when I woke up and spent two and half hours staring out the window, feeling unexcited about doing anything. Usually I am Ms Motivation, actively writing to do lists, planning tasks, solving problems, setting goals and bustling along with things. But this day everything just felt too hard, and I couldn't be bothered. Which was a worry, as I had so many things I needed to do.

In the end I turned to my trusty journal, the one I've been keeping for almost 30 years, and simply wrote down what I was feeling. Then I went back and read over the entry, looking for cognitive distortions like permanence (thinking the bad things will last forever), mental filter (focusing on the negatives and overlooking the positives). What was clear to me was that, while there were distortions, a lot of my concerns were realistic. There were a lot of challenges in my life, and sometimes it felt like I was getting nowhere. I realised that I needed to have an eagle eye out for when I had made progress and or something positive happened. I also needed to stop pressuring and criticising myself, and give myself more praise, understanding and encourangement. Just as importantly, I needed to take a break and get away from my normal routine, so it doesn't feel like endless drudge.

Luckily I have a trip away planned for a couple of weeks time, to visit family and friends. Just thinking about how this could give me a change of perspective and a burst of energy helped me feel more motivated. Also acknowledging to myself that things are realistically challenging, and speaking to myself more supportively made a huge difference. I got started on my morning a bit later than usual, but ended up having a much more productive day that felt much less stressful than in previous weeks.