On Motivation...

Why is it when you age, your motivation starts to lag until it becomes nonexistent? When I was an undergrad, it was like I had all the energy in the world and never felt like I was too stressed to fit it all in. A few things are different now, though.

1) Social Life. Things are different when you're in a new-ish city where you can't just walk places anymore. Events, seeing friends, trips all become these big events where you have to plan parking, mass transit, how you're going to get home alone... Also, you're much more limited in meeting people. It's not as easy to just show up at a club or sport.

2) Limited Activities. Gone are the spur-of-the-moment trips down the Juniata in a kayak or up Mt. Nittany. You can't drive over to Bald Eagle lake, or spend a day walking the rail trail. Forget a leisurely stroll around an empty campus. My neighborhood becomes pretty sketchy at points, and there's basically never any parking anywhere you want to go. Getting anywhere takes forever because there is always traffic at every point in the day.

3) Different Expectations. So you're getting older. Priorities change. You can't afford to spend three hours every day in the gym anymore because you have work. OK, and you work weird hours, so now you have to find time do get homework done. In addition, you no longer have that weekly reason to be in good shape or on top of work. I can't remember the last time I went out dancing. It was such a common occurrence in college, I spent all week working out for that one night.

I guess what it all comes down to is that you have to remember that when your life changes, as you age, your motivation become different too. So I don't go dancing anymore. And I have crazy hard classes I constantly have nightmares about. Why can't I have the same motivation I did when I was 20?

Summer is right around the corner and now more than ever I'm ready to reclaim my life. Find my new motivation. I'll let you know how that goes...