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The ways in which we feel desire and motivation is directly connected with our mental health and the ability for us to function in our community. All of us feel ups and downs when it comes to motivation, due to the ways our brain's chemicals play such an important role. We are never in charge of how willing we feel to do something or plan for an event. There are many ways that our desire and motivation play key parts in our daily lives. Dealing with mental health conditions can make regulating desires and motivation much harder. There are ways that we can prepare and be supportive for those around us as their motivations or desires fluctuate. We can always we more open and understanding.
Motivation is our willingness or energy we have to do something. This can include minor day to day tasks. Sometimes motivation for living and doing daily tasks can get hard and it's not easy for everyone. When we garner motivation for projects, business ideas, or new hobbies, we have a lot of momentum going in, but it can be hard to keep it gong.
We can do our best to help other people garner motivation by setting up study or reading groups, co-working spaces, where even if seperated- group work- is being used to continue human cultivation and motivation.
Motivation can also be the ability someone has, and not just their willingness. Not everyone has the ability to garner their own motivation daily and assuming a person is able when they aren't, is a form of ableism.
Desires are typically used to talk about things that we hope to achieve, or wish to have. Desires can be discussing a person, place, state of being, etc. There are all kinds of desires as well, as we get older we may experience sexual desires, or romantic desires. We may have desires, but it doesn't mean they have to come true. When you are having desires of any kind, it can be important to center these desires in reality, so they are more achievable. It's our job to make sure that no matter what our desire is or how strong it may be, that we don't negatively impact the environment and people around us. Sometimes we have to make sure that our peers and friends are also being appropriate about their desires.
Desires can be strong, if you feel you may need more information, seeking professional mental health care, can always be beneficial.
Many researchers in neuroscience and psychology believe that the main movitators are as listed below; however, it's important to understand how these can be manipulated into other forms of desire/motivation. Such as how money/financial access is the primary provider of the following, which can shift people's motivation towards how to make money.
In our day and age, money is a vital piece of our everyday lives. Unfortunately, a system that was originally made to make sure that all people were putting in their effort for the community, has turned into a profiteering expedition that kills people.
Money has never been a natural motivator, but because it determines our access to food/water and relationships with others.
Many people believe money doesn't effect their relationships, but not typically upheld when tested due to our societal constraints.
Food is a natural motivator, it has stayed with us our entire evolution; because we need food to live. Food and water are such neccessary pieces of continuing the life of humanity, that people will do almost anything to get it. Not having access to food or water can cause psychosis and other mental and physical health conditions, in times of abuse or distress.
This includes causing people to steal items like food and water, as it is a non-violent crime that provides for the family or person.
Believe it or not relationships with the people around you, is typically a huge motivator. In more recent years we have been understanding more about social needs and social anxiety. Even our social anxiety comes from the want to impress those around us. Being apart of our larger group is a very important part of our placement in society.
Whether its having a job, participating in community service, religious community services, etc., you are probably doing your best to connect with the people in your community.
Medications and Drugs are also an example of un-natural motivators, since we have not always had access to medicines. However, as many know, drugs and medications are often a large motivator for stealing, insurance fraud, drug use, etc. This is not in anyway meant to insinuate that having drugs and medications are bad for your health; however its important to remember the need for the medications as real. When the need for a medication is challenged, sometimes people are forced into other pharmacological decisions or they are faced with buying the drugs somewhere where it's not regulated. This medication and monetary system has caused millions of deaths; but the fact that it's a business makes it legal. Medications and Medical Health Care should never be a monetary issues, and makes it inaccessible for historically Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, LGBTQIA2S+, and Disabled communities.
Sexual Desires are not always up to us, sometimes our body can make decisions about the ways in which we feel. This however, does not take precedent over consent and other measures we use to protect ourselves and other's from harm. Even when we think we may be in the mood, it doesn't mean we won't change our minds about the sexual actions we are willing to participate in. Of course when it does come to expressing these emotions, there are ways to do so, in which you don't like inappropriately. Making sure we are good at communication and open to discussion on anything we may be expressing in the moment. There are parts of sexuality and sex, that need effective communication to make anyone's desires take place. It's important to also take into account the desires of the people you may be sexually active with. There is no good sexual interactions if you are not prioritizing your partner's pleasure. Sometimes we have to talk about how romantic relationships can exist without constant sexual interactions. In fact a sexual relationship doesn't have to exist at all for some couples to be happy and supportive of one another.
It's important to always prioritize the comfortability of all parties active in any sexual interaction. You want to make sure that the people around you are treating you and your body with the respect you need. We want to make sure that everyone is prepared to have consensual and respectful activities, instead of worrying about the act of sex itself.
(Planned Parenthood)
We hope that we can foster a conversation where the act of sex itself is not sexualized. It is vital that we are able to come together as a species, across both sexes, to understand that sexual activity has historically not always been pleasurable for everyone involved, and the force of birthing and sex on females, has created a generational shift in how one may view sexual activity. When coming at these conversations from a scientific perspective, we have to remain aware that these are functions of our bodies, and for some the lack of function or ability is really difficult to manage. The more we have educated conversations on these topics, the less scared or stigmatizing it will be to experience them. We all have these bodies, yet we still want to live in a world where we pretend we don't know. There is nothing that should be forcibly hidden from the rest of the world, especially if it is about the state of our bodies or lives, we are here on Earth to wittness one another. We should curate a society where there is no justification for unconsensual actions that comes from ever mistaking another human's state of being as 'promiscuity', for that is a grave dishonor to our own species. Promiscuity itself, is a word that should have never needed to exist, only used to describe a women's presentation from a horrendous man's perspective.
Another example, being able to discuss an orgasm and how they can occur for/in different bodies, without sexualizing the conversation, is imperative for us to have a framework and move through discussing the ways pleasure can occur with another person, without creating unnecessary pressure or being uneducated about potential needs.
There are many groups of people who do not experience, or define, sexual pleasure in the ways typical society may; and beyond their ability for such, they carry entire lives with them still. We often forget about people's traumas (old or new), and that emotional, physical, or mental these traumas stay with us, changing in the soft ways they might, but they never go away. We have to keep in mind that outside of ability or want, all bodies experience orgasm and pleasure differently in the physical form. This along, with the complexity of different genitalia potentially needing different stimulation to achieve pleasure, can influence the series of actions so that sexual acts are only pleasurable for one person at a time.
From a neurological perspective, we have to keep in mind that sexual pleasure and sexual desires have always lived in the part of the brain responsible for fight or flight, and our adrenaline centers, which means for those who've experienced a lot of their life in severe fight or flight, sexual activities may be a different experience. It is often that people experience intense emotional releases when they experience sexual pleasure, which is something that we as a society should be foster more in conversation.
Many groups of people experience their pleasure in different ways depending on how sexual activities have occured in their lives, and how it affects them. We know that 1 in 6 women have been assaulted, so we understand that there may be direct trauma associated with the act of sex, and sexual pleasure. The act of sexual reproduction for the intention of birth can also bring it's own from of trauma for many people. Experiencing a misscarriage or loss of a child, is a life-changing experience, one that may temporarily or long-term affect the people who are in that relationship. For parents going through infertility, the act of sexual activity can become associated with negative emotions rather than positive ones. That does not mean that sexual activity isn't pleasurable for people in this situation, but that the pleasure is not being done for the act of pleasure, but to lead to a child.
If you would like to help us write about commonly silenced areas or personal experiences you may have with these topics, contact us at thisisactivism2023@gmail.com or fill out our Comments page. We want our website to be a continuous growth of knowledge to share with each other in a positive way. There are so many things we don't talk about and we should!