Sometimes, when things get rough, you feel like you hit a plateau mentally when it comes to finding motivation to do things. This doesn’t necessarily have to do with work or school, it can be anything. It just feels like a rut where you end up being stagnant in terms of growth and progress. The longer you stay in this rut, the harder it is to get out.
What’s funny enough is that I wrote about this topic back in 2021 and totally forgot about it. It’s such a recurring topic and I don’t feel like I’m alone in this, especially being a grad student. Back then, the way I framed it around finding energy and dedication. This time, I’m going to frame it as finding the joy in what you do after managing to muster up the minimum energy.
As a result of me not having the energy to do the things I want to do, and the things I have to do, my desires end up being a joy. I started to dread heavily things that excited me. This involved my research, class, extracurriculars, being social, and more. I avoided these things because I was too tired and unmotivated to do it, despite it bringing heavy amounts of joy in the past. I just felt like a rock not going anywhere.
Recently I had reality checks that made me realize that I have opportunities here that I wouldn’t have otherwise. One of the big reality checks is my age. I’m 25. I have friends that have started their lives and seem happy as a clam, and I’m just in this rut. The other reality check is that I have others depending on me to do well. There’s my research group where some of them depend on me being a good researcher. My dog that needs me to be a good owner to her and give her the best life possible. My family that wants me to do well, and I want to do well for them so that I can eventually support them later in life.
It was these reality checks that are giving me motivation to be inspired again, as I am realizing that I have so much to accomplish in so little time. Personally, I need the pressure to be productive even though I have obstacles facing me. This fills me with energy (more mental than physical) to be better. Since my most pressing reality check, I have started to be more efficient with my research, started to actually exercise and care about my health, and in general just care to be my best self.
As time goes on, I’m afraid of falling into this rut again because habits are hard to kick. I just have to keep reminding myself why I’m doing what I’m doing and not to waste any more time, as there can be serious consequences if I lose motivation again. To be honest, the way that I’ll prevent that is by pressuring myself over and over again. Hopefully this doesn’t mean I’ll crash and burn, but thankfully I have resources here to prevent that.
I hope this helped someone who resonates with this lack of inspiration to know that they’re not alone. It can be daunting to do this alone, but just know that you aren’t.