Ways To Get Motivated

 At times it can be hard to find motivation and the want to do certain things. Whether it is motivation for studying, working out, going to work, or even depression/mental health, it can be very difficult to find the excitement and motivation to do or improve these aspects of life. For me I have trouble finding motivation to do schoolwork. I have always procrastinated until the last minute for everything, but I have come to learn that procrastination is a result of my anxiety. To help myself get excited and not scared of the amount of work I have to do, I usually listen to music or exercise before getting into my schoolwork. Exercising releases endorphins which makes the brain feel good, this in turn helps me relax and gets me excited and happy to finish. Some ways to get motivated are to surround yourself with positive people, set new goals, and to manage your energy and not your time. You can also plan and schedule your time, as well as rewarding yourself for small and big victories. Low motivation can be a sign of depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, and covid-19 was a major blow to everyone's motivation. 

Article Link: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/motivation/common-causes-of-lack-of-motivation-and-how-to-overcome-them/ 

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZhoeSaPF-k 

Adversity

 Facing challenges and disappointments in life can be very tiring both mentally and physically. But in the face of adversity lies room for potential growth and motivation. They also can be great opportunities to learn about yourself and the world. Although it is easier said than done, having a good mindset through times of adversity can help you conquer the tough times easier. Instead of having a naïve mindset that everything will work out in the end, we should think about what it would be like to lose the people or things in life that we cherish most from time to time. Some don't do well in times of adversity, and most of the time they don't come back from it. Others however, see it as a goal or an opportunity to accomplish something with their back against the wall, which in turn gives them motivation to keep going in life. When things go south, don't ask why is this happening to me, instead embrace the challenge. Once you have come back from adversity, your brain is trained now understands what to do next time you do face challenging times. For me personally, I have had times of adversity my whole life. When I was younger, I would usually fall to it and dwell in sadness or anger. As I got older and I started to face serious adversity, I then started to face and embrace it more and more. By now I am able to embrace adversity and realize that it is only up from here, and that only positive change is coming my way. 

Article Link on how adversity makes you stronger mentally: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pressure-proof/202004/how-adversity-makes-you-stronger 

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqlrL7zLNak 

AGAINST EMPATHY

 

My choice in a book report was, “AGAINST EMPATHY” by Paul Bloom. I chose this book because I have always had Empathy for family, and sometimes more for strangers that seemed to have needed help and never always received it. Paul bloom goes into arduous details on all levels of Empathy and how it could be a hindrance on a holistic approach. The author hints on his radical position but then precedes into a circular argument against it. He then states that “This is a radical position, but it’s not that radical. This isn’t one of those weird pro-psychopathy books.” He then goes on to say “The argument against empathy isn’t that we should be selfish and immoral. It’s the opposite. It’s that if we want to be good and caring people, if we want to make the world a better place, then we better off without empathy.” Finally, he then goes further with this statement, “Or to put it more carefully, we are better off without empathy in a certain sense. Some people use empathy as referring to everything good, as a synonym for morality and kindness and compassion. And many of the pleas that make people make for more empathy just express the view that it would be better if we were nicer to one another. I agree with this!”  Basically, this person does not believe in empathy as a bottom line, he just toys and writes about it in a contradictory nature. From beginning to end the book shows this as a reality.

To sum this up and make it relevant to our class on Motivation I can only say that we see all types of motivation in our lives, some good, some bad. We tend to see motivation as a positive thing, but it can be as negative as well. Take for example AGAINST EMPATHY. The motivation that led this person to write a book in this approach could be motivated against a real purpose to help people in need, whether one person or a thousand, or even millions of people. What we can consider a positive manner in help could be disregarded as not an amount help for the whole of the world and its people that all need help. So, if a person decides to help one of his family members but ignore the vast amount of people that are starving around the world has this person not done an empathic deed? Or do we have to look at the sum of the whole in order to truly be considered empathetic? On a Social sphere we can tend to compartmentalize our actions or in-actions as being relevant. As a result, we tend to focus on the needing from the media and news and I believe the closest people in our life’s, mainly family, friends, and people who live in our common area. There weren’t really any favorite parts in this book for me, but mostly useless information from a person who really has shot down empathy as we communicate amongst ourselves.

Food

 

Yet another relevant subject that motivates us to pursue our pleasure in eating. Before I comment on this, I would like to share my recent issues with the wonderful world of foods, and the pleasure of eating. Last February I lost two senses, Taste and Smell, and to this day I have not gotten them back. When this first happened, I was tested two times for COVID but tested negative both times. Prior to this last Summer I had taken the Perception course in Psychology and never imagined what it would be like to suffer a loss of any senses and read about people who have lost some or mostly all of them. This all seemed unreal. Fast forward to the present, I cannot even smell the most noxious chemicals such as propane or gasoline let alone the foods that I favor. When I try to taste I go from memory to try to reformulate the pleasures that I cannot now experience. It somewhat works but memory seems to disintegrate as time goes on. At this point a motivational step is to go to the doctors and get checked out on a medical level and see what is going on. In relation to our class in Motivation perhaps this would help me out with my issue.   What I mean here is I am at loss for my existing condition and need to stop procrastinating about my current situation and move forward. The purpose of this blog is to try to explain what motivates us and what happens when this is taken away. One reaction is that we, Or I tend to procrastinate and make it a more dyer situation, this is what happened to me in this situation.

Self-Control

 

Self-control is yet another issue that hit’s home for all of us and we defiantly can relate to it as described in our class. We marry it up to our everyday concerns all of the time, whether is overeating, under eating, smoking or trying to quit smoking, these are the impulses that are positive and negative, that conflict with our outcomes and not an issue of willpower. One classical example that I read in our class slides was that of “Ulysses and The Sirens” a beautiful classic example cited from Greek Mythology. Greek Mythology has given us plenty examples of self- control and this one is my favorite. Basically, I will try to summarize it in a short paragraph. Odysseus and the sirens also known as Ulysses was a respected warrior who is returning to home, it is a war he never wants to fight but his concern comes from an oracle’s prophecy that if he fights, his post war journey home will take a really long time. In retrospect he ends up fighting in the Trojan war and becomes a hero. The sirens are then introduced into the tale and what the sirens want is to really kill all and any humans. What transposes from this are techniques that are used from Ulysses and his crew members aboard his ship that practice self-control and hinder these attacks off. It’s best to read our class slide https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1t8RNaXnCnL1F9IClxiwed8IF2S67yXHiTRAXxCtFjeg/edit#slide=id.g2a7a18e1e_0105 https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Odysseus-and-the-Sirens to really enjoy the magic of the demonstrated reason behind self-control as an example of ancient Greek Mythology and the relation to our current understanding of it, being Self-Control.