Day 5 - Staying Motivated

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When you start on your exercise routine for mental health, you might find that the initial 
motivation you had starts to reduce. This is completely normal, and the reason you want 
to start by scheduling it in, which eventually turns into a habit. 

Here are some tips for maintaining your exercise motivation:


Routines Become Habits

Before you can start turning something into a habit, it needs to start with a scheduled 
routine. It might feel a bit forced in the beginning, but remember to choose exercises 
you love and that make you feel better. The more often you participate in them, the 
more you will actually look forward to it.


Change Your Mindset About Exercise

This isn’t the first time we have mentioned it, but it is just THAT important. You want to 
change your mindset about what exercise means to you. Sometimes when you only see 
exercise as burning calories or trying to achieve a toner body, you lose sight of the other 
benefits. For mental health, just change your mindset, thinking about how it relaxes you, 
reduces stress, relieves your anxiety, and improves your energy.


Use This as Your Alone Time for Self-Care

Self-care has been a popular topic recently because of how vital it is to your wellbeing, 
both mentally and physically. You can turn your exercise routine into your self-care 
routine, and keep it as your daily alone time. This allows you to benefit even more from 
it.


Be Flexible with Your Routine

If you are too strict with yourself, it can be easy to lose interest in it quickly, even if it is 
an exercise you love. This means if you’re tired after 20 minutes, even though you 
wanted to jog for 40 minutes, STOP. Take a rest. Some days, you might want to pick a 
different form of exercise, try a different time or different day. Routines aren’t meant to 
be set in stone, but simply give you a good place to start.


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