When I work out, I feel good about myself. After a good workout, I feel accomplished and stay productive for the rest of the day.
The day after Thanksgiving I got sick. So sick that for the next 4 days, I wasn't able to do anything other than cough, be exhausted, and have zero motivation to do anything. So obviously I didn't work out at all over this stretch.
But then I started to feel a little better. My cough went away, I was less tired, and I even felt motivated enough to try working out.
I knew that if I could force myself back into my workout routine, I would bust out of the slump that I had fallen into.
So I went to the gym, warmed up, and started to work out. I tried to use weights I used before getting sick...and I wasn't even able to complete my first working set. The weight felt way heavier than I remembered. It was so discouraging that I scrapped the entire workout.
I tried to workout the next day as well, but achieved the same result.
The silly thing is that I knew my first several workouts back were likely to go this way. Yet for some reason I expected to be able to pick right back up where I left off before my setback.
The amount of stress our bodies experience through times of sickness, injury, and periods of inactivity, is much more than we realize. It's hard to understand how far and fast you can fall off the path in such short time.
It is very frustrating to deal with setbacks. It's frustrating that there is only so much we can do to avoid certain circumstances. It's frustrating that we can't get back to where we once were as fast as we'd like.
If you find yourself in any kind of a slump, unfortunately I don't have advice for you today as to how to get out of it. But it should make you feel better knowing that we all experience down times.
It's natural, but most importantly, it's temporary.