Today, I take a personal perspective with regard to getting our mojo back. As those of you who have followed this blog know, my personal journey forms the basis for many of the posts.
Since Living Well While Surviving Cancer began in June 2018, I have worked hard to follow the philosophy that “This blog is intended to inspire hope and show the value of a positive attitude. Happiness is a choice. And may we all live as long as we can as well as we can.”
But, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, it has been harder for me to follow my rules. Many of you can relate to this. Below, we discuss losing our drive. Then, we explore how to get it back.
Why I’ve Lost My Mojo
According to the Urban Dictionary, here is one perspective:
Mojo means your influence, confidence, or personal charisma. Your self-confidence, Your self-assuredness. As in the basis for belief in one’s self in a situation.
The term “mojo” was chosen for this post rather “motivation” because mojo is a broader concept. Thus, it fits better.
These are some reasons why my enthusiasm has faltered recently. Despite my best attempts to live life every day:
- The cumulative weight of being home-bound for a year has caught up with me. Like lots of you, it’s hard to be upbeat when you are bored and in a rut for so long. Repetition is not necessarily conducive to living life every day as we want.
- I loved doing volunteer work At United Cerebral Palsy in Suffolk, NY. The interaction with the disabled was truly rewarding. Then, due to COVID-19 and my high-risk factors, I could no longer see my friends in person. But, for quite a while, there were multiple Zoom meetings each week, so that we could interact. Unfortunately, the person running the Zoom sessions got ill. So no Zoom for the last couple of months. Hopefully, we will start up soon, since the person is back at work now,
- After my knee replacement in January 2020, I was quite gung ho to exercise again. During rehab, I went to a PT facility (until COVID-19 stopped me). And I regularly did prescribed exercises in the house. Starting in May 2020, I went for a walk outside every other day. By the end of the summer, I was walking for at least an hour — and feeling great about it. Because we live in NY, I had to stop walking once it got cold. Due to the pandemic, I did not feel comfortable going to my gym. Although we got a new exercise bike, I dislike it and rarely use it. I am demotivated as to any exercise. Even though I know that is not good for me.
- Not seeing friends in person for such a long time is a real downer.
I could go on. But, the message is clear.
A Very Big Challenge For Us: Getting Our Mojo Back
My goal is to return to the emotion depicted on this hat.
How I plan to do this. I:
- must always reiterate to myself how lucky I am. I am a pancreatic cancer survivor who is also diabetic; and here I am in 2021.
- have to always remind myself about how blessed I am for my wife Linda, daughters Jennifer and Stacey, and sons-in law Phil and Adam. As well as my many friends.
- will get back to regular exercise indoors. In addition to the bike, I now have different types of bands and a ton of cardio and leg exercises. Beside, I have own personal trainer. He is Thomas Green, who created YouTube exercises for me. And who sends me reinforcing messages.
- am looking forward to resuming Zoom sessions with UCP. And continuing to do outreach and fundraising for the Lustgarten Foundation.
- will receive my first COVID-19 vaccine shot on February 21, 2021. 🙂
- will set more daily and weekly goals to challenge myself to be more active.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?