Have you ever felt that something you love to do, be it your hobby, passion, or even a job, starts to lose its appeal and actually stops being fun? I'd like to share my recent experience about how something I loved to do stopped being fun and even became detrimental to me, and how I remedied the situation.
I have some hobbies which are a big part of my life and present in my schedule every week. Perhaps the most relevant one is working out and excercising: I love the gym and lifting weights because it makes me feel better and healthier, and it also keeps me in shape. It has been an active part of my life for ten years already and has become a part of my lifestyle, a hobby bordering on being a passion.
Last year I decided to consistently increase the volume of my workouts in an experimental manner in order to improve my physique. I was already in good shape and didn't necessarily need to be more fit, but eventually I found myself excercising five to six days a week, doing two HIIT-cardio workouts and four days at the gym, working out the whole body. Even though I was taking a good care of the essentials that supported my workout routines (proper diet, rest and sleep, excercising correctly) I became fixated on my physique goals, so much so that I didn't realize that this rhythm was taking away my JOY of working out.
During this time also my body started to speak to me by being constantly in a state of wear and exhaustion. I was seeing physical results thanks to the excercising, yes, but it came with a price: my body was constantly tired. I was blind to my body's messages and kept forcing myself to do the same routines every week without allowing myself to take a break. "You won't reach that physique if you don't work hard! ", a quote with a negative connotation became the motive for my workouts instead of doing it because I enjoyed it. Now, someone else might be comfortable with huge amounts of excercise as our bodies are different, especially if you're doing it professionally, but in my case the amount of excercising started to be detrimental to my health instead of benefiting my well-being.
On top of feeling constantly worn out, when it came time to do a workout my thoughts were "oh man.. I need to do my workout for today.." and it felt like an unpleasant, stressful chore instead of being fun. I had also fallen into the trap of comparing myself to others' physiques. It's good to be inspired by someone if it motivates you, but the moment you start to compare yourself to the person next to you and feel inadequate, you're heading in the wrong direction. Thankfully, soon I had to seriously re-examine my attitude towards my workout pace.
I started university life in January and my rigorous workout routines became too much to handle while trying to see the daily effort of being a good student and studying properly. The physical stress joined by mental stress was burning me out: I started to make mistakes, forgot things and was constantly "out there", not able to fully concentrate on anything. It took me to the edge and thankfully I was told by people around me that I should change my workout habits for my own sake. I had transformed what was once my beloved hobby into a severe burden and I hit the wall. I had to adjust by taking a break from excercising and not forcing myself to do the same routines anymore.
Guess what happened when I let go of the "I must excercise or else "- mindset? I felt relieved. I took a about a week off from working out and interestingly enough, my body started to tell me "hey man, I'd really like a good workout! :D " Notice the smiley? That's exactly what my body excitedly told me after I relieved myself of the rigorous excercise patterns and stopped forcing myself. As soon as I started thinking "excercise if you feel like it, no one is forcing you to do it" and listened to my body, I rediscovered the joy of excercising. I stopped religiously following my previous workout patterns and instead worked out as long as it felt enjoyable. At the gym I could once again feel my body genuinely telling me "Dude, this workout makes me feel really good!" and felt the "rush'" you get from excercising. Not only that, but also my stress slowly evaporated and my quality of life improved dramatically.
Lessons learned:
I should have seen the signs long ago when my dearest hobby stopped being fun. It all started from my head where I took on negative mindsets such as "I want to look like this so bad", or even "you're not good enough if you don't look like that." I was too stubborn to stop and didn't listen to my body when it was telling me "this is too much."' When I finally let go of the forceful mindsets and listened to my body, not only did my well-being skyrocket but I rediscovered why it's fun to excercise and I could accept myself without looking like a fitness model. I learned that the mind and body are indeed connected, and that it is important to take care of both. If what you love becomes "performing" instead of being fun, it is time to stop, examine the situation and adjust accordingly. Take care everyone!
What Girls & Guys Said
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1Opinion
This is all true. I've found that a day of rest is usually enough before I want to run again, and after about three or four days without, I
... am going stir crazy.
You’re right, great advice!