Real Life Wellness

By Bill Hemmer
I have spent the last 35 weeks writing about COVID-19.  Since March, it has consumed all of our lives.  But I feel it is time for me to move on.  I can’t stew and worry about the other shoe that is continually dropping anymore.  Fear, anxiety, isolation and lack of community all contribute to the erosion of your health and self-esteem.  

So…it’s time for a new topic.  

This doesn’t mean I won’t address any COVID-related matters if I feel the need to.  But, for now, I’m moving on.  Motivation is a topic I talk about every day in my practice.  We have all been there.  You just can’t seem to get your butt off the couch and do what you know you should do to move and stay healthy.  Why?

The best explanation I’ve heard about motivation is understanding that your internal motivation is tied directly to your worldview.  Worldview is a term used to describe your personal lens of your environment around you.  You look at things differently than any other person on the planet because of your upbringing, experiences, education and location.  

Motivation is intimately connected to your worldview by way of your purpose in life.  Your purpose in life is influenced and molded by every part of your worldview.  To make this point clearly, I will use myself as the example.  

My worldview was shattered when I broke my neck at 15.  The path my life was on before my diving accident changed immediately and forever that day.  Before my accident, I was on the path of athletics.  I played every youth sport there was.  Football, wrestling, basketball, baseball and swimming were all huge parts of my life before my accident.   

After my accident, I was told I would never play sports again.  I was also told by my neurosurgeon I would have terrible arthritis and chronic pain and disability the rest of my life.  How would you like to hear that as a 15-year-old?  These statements were the catalyst for an instant change in my life propose. My new purpose was to heal myself and not become a disabled adult that needed government assistance to live out my days.  

My body is all I have.  The established medical system wasn’t going to help me.  That was obvious from the neurosurgeon’s comments.  I had to take matters into my own hands.      

My new purpose started my educational path to a Biology degree and then a Doctor of Chiropractic degree.  This is how I began to heal myself without drugs or surgery.  My new purpose to heal myself fueled my motivation to help others heal themselves.  

Your purpose, fueled by your worldview, will always hold true in private.  If you are truly working in your purpose, nobody has to tell you to do or act a certain way.  You do it naturally because that is who you are.  Working in your purpose is effortless and natural.  You don’t need to be reminded or pushed; you want to do it.  It becomes harder to stop working in your purpose once you get started.    

Next week, I will share the eight steps to refine your purpose and worldview and increase your natural motivation.