“Not in the mood! Maybe I’m not doing it!” “I’ll do it when I’m in the mood!” As a result, many things that should be done, such as exercising, going out for a walk, and even things that must be done, such as taking a shower, are postponed because they are not in the mood. Escape, of course, is a relief and can avoid immediate pressure. However, they pay a price for escaping. After tasting the consequences, they will become even more depressed and less motivated, falling into a vicious cycle.
How do you hold your head up high and get the energy to do what you need to do immediately? You could only tell yourself: Just do it! Nothing else. Because when you start doing it, you will feel the mood, and then you will accumulate positive experience points. Bit by bit, you will improve your mood, and you will be more and more motivated to continue. The more you do it, the more you will be in the mood. If these positive experiences are imprinted in your mind, you will be more in the mood to do them next time, creating a virtuous cycle.
This is even more important during the pandemic. Because before that time, everything had to be done face-to-face. Even if you lacked a little mood, you could step out of the house and arrive at the designated place on time to do those things. But now that many things are done online, it is easy to end up not doing them because of lack of mood.
Is there any way to just do what must or should be done continuously? There are four steps to this: (1) Record your main activities in the past week, and then compare them with your daily activities before the pandemic to see the differences; (2) Discover activities. Think about any activities you used to do but not anymore. At the same time, think about any activities that must be done, are worth doing, and will make you happy and rewarding after doing them. Remember to write them down; (3) After listing the activities to be done, do them step by step. From the easy ones to the harder ones; (4) Hold a clear plan in mind, and then implement the plan. Again, everyone, be sure to write it down. You can use paper or your mobile phone to record it. Even if you don’t do it in the end, you have to write it down.
Under the social distance restrictions imposed by the pandemic, what is easy to do and meaningful, with immediate results for you to see, will give you the motivation to do so, and will give you the mood to do it again? My first recommendation: Cooking. Because the results can be seen and enjoyed immediately. You can even share the results with others, which is a cherry on top.
Written by: Dr. William Chui
Originally posted on: Health HKEJ
Translated by: Cheuk Long Chan
