A Meditation About Motivation...

I've been asked a lot lately, "Liz, how do you stay so motivated?"
My lazy unthinking answer has been, "Golly, I just don't know."  Ok, maybe my answer isn't exactly that hokey, but I usually mumble something about it being tough, but I just do it.

Well, I've been thinking about it, and I have a LOT of things that keep me motivated.

#6 Fitting into my favorite pair of jeans.  I SURE DO know that that's kind of shallow, but I don't really care.  Nothing beats being able to fit into a nice fitted pair of jeans... especially a pair that you couldn't fit in a few years ago.  That's motivation enough for me to eat well.  Never mind the feeling of mental clarity and overall goodness that comes from good nutritious food.

#5 A good job that I enjoy, someday.  Yes, someday, when all of this school stuff is done with, I hope to have a job I love.  No, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but I have ideas, and I'm moving in a direction of progress rather than sitting around wishing things would get better on their own.

#4 Balance.   Having lots to do is, in and of itself, a HUGE motivator.  Finding that sweet spot where you are just managing to fit everything in while still allowing yourself some downtime to blab on your blog is key to the balance equation.  If you aren't scheduling yourself a little downtime, do it.  You can motivate yourself in knowing that you have a scheduled break.

#3 Do what you love and love what you do.  I LOVE to ride and race my mountain bike.  While I don't have tons of time to be doing that right now, I am putting in enough time training indoors to make the few rides that I get outside the most amazing rides ever.  Yes, I get disappointed that I miss lots of good rides, but it's knowing that I have other priorities that I also love (school, family) that keeps me optimistic.  There are still plenty of things that I have to do that suck, but finding the positive aspects of those and really focusing on them makes them much easier to bear.  Delivering mail?  It's monotonous and mind-less, but there are good things about it that make it less awful.  Of course, the paycheck is one of them. :)

#2 Friends and Family.  The people in my life who believe in my ability to succeed are a huge motivator to me.  Whether it's an acquaintance, a close friend, a family member, or my little girl, I have a network of people who never fail to lift me up when I'm down or drop an inspiring line or two my way.  Thank you!

#1 Life is short.  My mom, an amazing woman, mother, artist, teacher, nature-lover, (former cycling enthusiast), has a degenerative brain disease that has left her a very far cry from the person that she used to be.  She lives in a nursing home and can no longer form sentences to speak let alone do any of the things that she used to love doing.  I miss her terribly.  Yes, I know, I'm lucky to still have her in my life, but it's really hard to see her the way she is now.  What's most tragic about this is that she's young.  This all started in her early forties, and it happened fast.  I've learned so much from this.  When I say life is short, I'm acknowledging that it's too short to waste doing trivial things that you don't love.  If there's something you don't like about your life, you should do something to change it, because someday you might not be able to.  Even if you were to die next week, wouldn't it be better to know that you took a few steps before that in a direction that makes you happier?  I might be swamped with stuff to do right now, but I'm moving my life in directions that make me happy, and in turn, the people around me are happy because I'm less miserable than I could be.

So yeah, I'm motivated.  I definitely have my down days, and I absolutely have moments of self-loathing, self-doubt, and defeat.  But, it eventually passes.