My Wall of Motivation

Since becoming a member of the overcrowded unemployment line that exists here in the U.S., I've tried to focus on my health and keeping active to ward off any depression or despair that tries to take advantage of my less than sturdy psyche.  Unemployment does have its disadvantages!

One habit I've taken up to keep me going is to get up early (and when I say early, I mean my alarm buzzes like a screaming Banshee at 5:00am, Monday through Friday) and go down the street to the park to meet up with a workout group.  Our instructor is a petite, fit dynamo who missed her calling as a military Drill Sargent.  At 5:30 on the dot, she begins yelling out our marching orders that we will follow for the next hour.  She makes me forget about being unemployed, and I focus on how too keep from throwing up or passing out.

Another approach to keeping my energy level from plummeting is a bit of positive self-reinforcement.  I do this with what I like to call my "Wall of Motivation."  I've cut out pictures of skinny athletic little 19 year-old nymphs and pasted them all over the wall in my home office.  These thin stick figures are supposed to be my inspiration; my motivation for getting up at 5:00am every morning instead of picking up the bagel with extra cream cheese on the plate next to my laptop.  I have to admit, it does work.  Every time I look up from my laptop screen, there they are, in bikinis, surf shorts, yoga poses, etc., smiling at me, saying, "You can do it."

I can do it.  I know I've mentioned this before, but a wise woman (my friend Tanya) told me that I can't control what is happening with the economy and being unemployed (except what I've been doing, sending out resumes, networking, and the occasional begging), but I can control my health and mood by getting up, getting out, and moving!  That is completely under my control.  And it doesn't hurt to have that shiny, happy, smiling Wall of Motivation staring at me every morning...

--Fortuitous Observer