After a hard few weeks of papers and exams, I found myself exhausted with little motivation. This seems to happen to me every semester and I wanted to find ways to combat my stress and low motivation. Here are a few things that have kicked me out of my low motivation rut:
1. Yoga!
I’m definitely a beginner when it comes to yoga but I’ve always wanted to try it! With COVID it’s hard to take a class in person so I looked up yoga classes for beginners on YouTube. I have back issues and I was surprised at the number of videos there were for people who have bad backs or knees. I was able to do a lot of poses that stretched out my back like downward dog, cobra pose, and cat and cow. These are the basic poses but they were all able to release tension in my back (thank god!). When I’m stressed out my shoulders and back become very tense and it starts to hurt so I’m very thankful that I could learn some new poses to prevent back pain. I would recommend the channel Yoga with Adriene, she has a ton of beginner videos as well as 30-day challenges to further your experience level.
2. Get. Enough. Sleep.
I struggle with getting eight hours of sleep a night. I’m a night owl and I love staying up late watching movies or scrolling through Instagram. I stay up late because I consider nighttime to be my free time. I go to class, work, and work out during the day and I feel like I’m going nonstop. My time spent on electronics has impacted my sleep and my energy levels. As much as I want to stay up until 1 a.m., I know I can’t function if I do. Once I implemented my rule of no phone past 12 a.m., I’ve noticed a massive change in my energy. I feel rested and ready to take on the day!
3. Work out
Working out has improved my mood immensely after midterms week. I’ve been attempting to incorporate workouts after my morning classes and I’ve felt energized after. I’m usually exhausted after waking up at 7:30 a.m. every morning for my Spanish class (as I previously stated, I’m a night owl) but working out right after has boosted my mood and I’ve felt more motivated after. It’s been easier for me to focus on my school work and my job. Plus, I feel a lot better about my self-image and much more confident in my body.