What part of the iceberg sunk the titanic?
The stuff that was underneath the surface.
The relationships we’re struggling with, the grief, the suppressed emotions we haven't dealt with.
This is what drags us down.
The bottom part is where the relationship to behaviors lie, and if you don’t address those, you’ll be influenced by factors that seem out of your control.
And when it comes to exercise, our relationship and feelings surrounding it influence our experience with it.
Michelle Segar PhD, a motivation scientist and author of the critically acclaimed book, “No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness” explains that, “If our ultimate goal is to sustain a specific self-care behavior like physical activity across our lifetime, we need to understand our beliefs about that behavior, what it symbolizes to us, and especially how it contributes to the outcomes we want from it…”
The takeaway?
If you’re unmotivated to exercise, it’s probably worth getting out a piece of paper and writing out what feelings come up when you think about exercise.
Once you do that, then maybe you'll be able to work past negative experiences, societal pressures, and anything else that be influencing your motivation for exercise.
Sometimes, “noticing and naming” baggage associated with a behavior is enough to save, what may feel like, a sinking ship.