Being unmotivated is an act known as laziness by our teachers and parents. We don’t feel like studying for a test because it’s too hard, we don’t want to clean our rooms because it requires too much effort- we’re just not motivated. When did we go from energetic kids who tried to climb trees and play tag to teenagers who were too lazy to walk up a flight of stairs? 

It is easy to blame our unmotivation on the task that needs to be done. It is much harder to find it in ourselves to understand where this “laziness” stems from and fix it. You start by looking at your overall well-being. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating correctly? Are you doing enough exercise? Then you dive deeper into your feelings, figuring out if you’re in a good mental place and are at peace with your mind. If not, keep asking yourself why, over and over again, until life shows you the answer. The moment you feel good about yourself, you must narrow it down to asking why you are unmotivated. There could be several reasons; you could be unmotivated by grief and loneliness or burnt out. Regardless, once you understand why, it paves the way to change. 

One of the common mistakes we tend to make is not setting up reasonable goals. Though you might not look forward to doing your science notebook, it is another step toward reaching your pursuit of the life you want to make for yourself. Once you create that image in your mind of a dream life where you achieved anything you wanted, and you start going after it, that notebook will look exciting rather than scary (though it’s still a bit scary). As human beings, we tend to link our emotions with our surroundings and activities. When we think of a challenging task, we often relate it with literal physical pain in our minds. Our bodies do everything in their power to avoid pain, it’s an instinct, but it’s all in our heads. When you decide to turn the tables and view the task with a positive outlook, even a small one, the motivation will come out of nowhere. 

Remember always to keep your head up and truly take in the life around you. Though there are hard days when looking at the bright side seems impossible, try finding comfort in the little things, listen to music, go on a walk, read a book. We only get one chance to make our lives, our years, our days the best they can be. But the only way to make it all count is to get up and start. So whatever it is, you need to do, start it. And make the most of it.