Anxiety And Motivation: Feeling Motivated To Recover?

Anxiety And Motivation

When it comes to anxiety and motivation – especially motivation to “do recovery”, we often labor under a myth that has to be dismantled. One does not have to feel a certain way before acting a certain way. It is possible, and required, to act first! Feeling motivated comes AFTER the action.

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The Highlights

Motivation and “feeling motivated” is a topic that applies not just in anxiety recovery, but also in life.
Here’s the thing about motivation, regardless of the context you put it in. Feeling motivated often comes AFTER acting, not before.
If you can’t seem to conjure up the feeling of motivation no matter how hard you try, so you can’t seem to take action, you might have this backward. That’s not fair to you.
Motivation and feeling motivated can certainly be tied to what we value, what our goals are, and what we feel is important in life. But even so, demanding that you create a feeling of motivation as a prerequisite for taking action isn’t a good plan.
Keep in mind that nobody wants to do scary, challenging, difficult things. If you had fun, pleasurable things in front of you, you would likely not be talking about motivation because you would automatically have it! It’s OK if you can’t feel motivated to do difficult things as part of the recovery process.
Not many people achieve a state of feeling called “motivation” when it comes to taking those first scary steps toward fear. Feelings of motivation might start to build after repeated experiences that we might call “wins”, but see how the action came before the feeling?
Some people will struggle with the idea of feeling motivated more than others. Someone that would be described as “state oriented” by certain personality theories might struggle to unlock their action potential when challenged. A state-oriented person might find themselves “stuck” whenever they experience a negative emotional state.
If this is you, then consider that you need to be as nice to yourself as you can! Self-compassion does matter. Recognize that you’re trying to do hard things and that everyone struggles with that. Don’t add increased pressure to feel a certain way. Recognize that action precedes feeling in most cases.
Then, consider lowering the demands. You don’t have to recover all at once and immediately do super challenging things. It’s perfectly acceptable to start very small by meeting even tiny challenges like getting out of bed, getting yourself dressed, sitting in the garden for a few minutes, or taking a small bite of a food you fear might trigger you. This is OK. Those are wins and even small wins matter and can help you build momentum that can lead to that feeling of motivation that you think you need.

In the end, abandoning the myth of motivation and disregarding all the misguided advice about positive thinking, changing mindsets, and being a warrior, can be really helpful in recovery. You don’t have to feel like doing a thing to do that thing. Do your best to take some small steps forward even when you’re not motivated, be nice to yourself while you do that, accept the wins, and build on that.