I received my final exam for my personality psychology course today. It has one question: What is Personality? Well, I just read a text on the subject so should be able to come up with some sort of an answer. Then I was thinking, what part of personality makes us go out and exercise, eat properly and take care of ourselves for a little while, and then let us slide back into old habits when the going gets rough. By rough going I mean the weather is too hot or too cold, an injury happens, time gets hard to find, or new responsibilities come along. They all sound a lot like excuses. Some people don’t use them at all, they run no matter what.
Is it extroversion that causes these oddities to run when the rest of us are inside keeping warm? Is it biological – are they just tougher? Could it be that they are more conscientious about their health? Was Freud right, and there is an id inside each of us that causes us to do the things we do?
I suppose you could make an argument for any of these ideas. My favorite theory is motivation. I believe some people are more motivated to run every day that others. With that motivation they have surrounded themselves with people who support their healthy life choices. When running becomes a habit, it is easier to keep it going, rather than stopping and having to get motivated to start again. The endorphines that come from running are in themselves a powerful motivator. The problem seems to be finding what motivates you in the first place, until it becomes a habit.
Some of the things I have tried are posting photos of obese people on the fridge and computer desktop . That didnt work for long. Then I made a slideshow of fit people running and doing yoga, and set that as my screensaver. It reminded me of what I want to do but I didnt go do it. New running shoes are motivators, for some people. A few new tunes on the iPod assist others in getting started.
For me, it’s the latest 5 lb wieght gain that was supposed to be a 10 lb weight loss. Now my clothes are too tight and it is uncomfortable. I feel the extra pudge and am very self conscious about it. However my latest excuse is still overriding my first run of the year – the weather. The piles of snow are starting to melt and the sidewalks are half water half ice. The trails are sloppy and the wind is still fairly chilly. By the time my final exams are over in a couple of weeks, I will have run out of excuses and hopefully run down the trails!
Until then, I better get back to the books and sort out how Locus of Control and Field Depedence are going to fit into my answer for the personality question.
