Get over Depression and Anxiety How to Get Motivated

Breakthrough the Depression and Anxiety Barrier and How to Motivate Yourself to Get Back to a Good Mental State

by Jim Rial

Looking back on my mental state before getting my shit together, I had no idea how I was going to break through the depression and anxiety barrier. How was I going to be a good provider for my family and give them a good home with a solid financial future? Most of all, how the hell did I let life spiral so far out of control? I was consumed by depression and anxiety. How the hell would I ever get myself motivated and back on my feet. Getting over anxiety, depression, and getting yourself motivated is not easy.

I was virtually lost in my anxiety, depression, anger, and feelings of pure misery. I no longer cared about anything and I was not in a good mental state. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to live anymore. At one point I realized I was even suffering from depersonalization, the feeling of being in a constant dream-like state and feeling disconnected or detached from my body and thoughts. I no longer felt like anything around me was real. Every day felt like I was living in an altered reality, and it was a real live nightmare. All these bad feelings were finally rushing to the surface like a tidal wave. I was trapped in my own mind, and I didn’t have a clue what broke me out of my own personal hell, but suddenly I was aware of the things going on around me. I now realized that I needed to make changes, or I was going to be trapped in this hell forever. The key to getting through your depression and anxiety, and how to get motivated is realizing you have a problem. If you don't it seems like you just fall deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.

So the first thing I needed to do was clear my head. I know that I can't think clearly and rationally and am constantly stoned out of my mind. I’m sorry to be the one to say this, but marijuana although being a great way to relax, if used consistently to escape life, will just drag you deeper into the rabbit hole. If you are really serious and want to think clearly and get the motivation back you lost so long ago. You need to stop the habit or at the very least, slow it down. I don’t care what your substance of choice might be, give it up if possible. Smoking weed often messes with your mind and makes you constantly tired and very unmotivated. Drinking alcohol as well also affects your sleep and mood. Anything altering your mind and general state of being is not helping you in any sort of a good way. All substance abuse does is hide and suppress your natural feelings and in doing so it renders you incapable of rationalizing your thoughts. This just becomes an endless circle of masking your problems instead of allowing you to fight through them and develop real solutions. Even once you're sober all you are concerned with is your next fix. This was probably one of the hardest challenges I had to face was letting go of that relaxing feeling a good vape hit brought me. I know some studies say marijuana is non-addictive, but I beg to differ at least to a certain degree. It may not be physically addictive, but mentally you really learn to depend on that euphoric feeling and mask your problems. Over time, especially with heavy use, you’re just off chasing the dragon. The more you do, the more you want and a little is never enough. Doing too much will not leave you in a good mental state. 

I personally just decided to drop it cold turkey. I was done. I had one last hoorah with whatever I was remaining in my stash, then packed up the vaporizers and called it quits. I assumed I was in for a rough ride. I had been dependent on this stuff for several years now, but the reality is it wasn't really as difficult as I thought. I just found positive and healthy ways to channel my energy. This turned out to be the best life change I ever made. I think it took a week or so to completely cleanse my system, but I could feel the energy surging through my veins after only a few days. I was growing more motivated by the day, and I was starting to think clearly. I now had the motivation and ambition to get started on making some serious life changes.

Every passing day with my newfound energy increasing and thoughts becoming clearer. I was finally in a good mental state and I was ready to get off my ass and start getting some exercise and start becoming healthier. I was no longer trying to figure out how to get motivated, I was motivated and ready to take on the world. I had been sitting around doing nothing for far too long. My body needed to be back to a physically functioning state, I wanted to be strong and physically fit. I believe that to be in a good mental state, your body needs to be in good physical shape too. You need to be healthy and strong, this is how to stay motivated. I also wanted a natural means to reduce my stress and anxiety instead of substances. I was so out of shape at this time it was ridiculous and this was not me. I was always into fitness and taking better care of myself. I started thinking the best way and most obvious to facilitate my serious need for exercise was to join a gym. I decided in my current financial state that whatever gym I joined had to be affordable. I found the perfect option with very affordable memberships and all of the equipment needed to get you physically fit. After signing up, I didn't start going just yet. The first thing I decided to do was work on my eating habits so that I had the energy to hit the gym hard. This was the beginning of my journey back to retaking control of my life.

So, I set a goal for my gym start date. I chose a date a couple of weeks out. Then immediately started working on my eating plan. The first thing was cutting out sugar and limiting my carbs. The only carbs I allowed myself were carbs from good sources such as fruits, whole grains, and vegetables such as sweet potatoes which are one of my favorites. I already had a pretty good understanding of how to design a solid healthy eating plan and lose weight. I just haven’t practiced good eating habits in a very long time. I decided the best way to manage my caloric intake was to base my diet on specific percentages of the key macronutrients protein, fat, and carbs. The best way for me to start melting away the fat from my body was to eat high protein, moderate fats (from good sources), and low carbs. I used an app that can be easily accessed via the web on the PC or an app on your phone. The app called myfitnesspal offers both a paid version as well as a free one. I found the free version to be very useful, especially being on a tight budget. I used the built-in meal planning tools to plan and calculate my meals. By setting up your goals when you get started it's easy to keep a running status of your progress. I don’t know if it’s 100% accurate but it helped me shed at least 2 pounds per week. Now when you use the wizard it may not set your macronutrients to your desired percentages. Originally it set me up with high protein but set fats lower and allowed for way more carbs than I needed. Thankfully after setting up your goals the settings can be manipulated as you start tweaking your diet plan to meet your personal needs. I will get into all of that in another article. We can discuss the options I found that work best, but in the end, this is going to be your body which could be very different than mine and you need to figure out what works best for your body. It took me a while and lots of trial and error to figure out exactly what percentages worked best for me to lose weight, a little playing around and manipulation and I think I found what really worked to kick start my weight loss. My goal was two pounds per week and I originally was only getting about one. After some adjustments, I started seeing the results I wanted. I can tell you that carbs were the issue. I lowered them significantly and immediately started seeing results. I wasn't looking to go full keto or anything, you also don't want too much fat as well. I think I settled somewhere in the realm of 50% protein, 40% fat, and 30% carbs. I also made sure my fat came from good sources like olive oil, avocados, coconut oil, and nuts. 

At the end of the day, I was extremely eager to get back into the gym, throwing up some weights and tearing up the cardio machines. I believe that making the changes for a clear mind and body was key to my now good mental state. Along with starting myself on a clean and healthy diet consisting of all the right nutrients to sustain energy for those long intense workouts. Aside from healthy eating, we will eventually cover the workout routines I tried and went through and the things I found to work best for getting back into shape. I don’t believe the goal here is to become Mr. Olympia or become an underwear supermodel. We are trying to improve our lifestyle and be happy, healthy, and feel good about living. Even if your job sucks! The key here is how to get motivated and back on track to a good mental state of mind.