Renewed Motivation

Sometime back, I wrote a blog post about motivation.  And it still rings true.  Motivation is a key factor to anything I do.  Whether it be an attempt at getting fit or striving for a personal goal in another area of my life.  Motivation is a driving force.  It helps propel us forward.  This is something I have learned a little more about since my last blog post about motivation.  And the person who taught me this lesson, is only 8 months old as of this writing.

Little did I know that 8 months ago, the smallest person I have ever held would also be one of the biggest teachers I would encounter in my day to day walk.  And I thank her on a daily basis.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something new from her as she is learning everything new for the first time.  And motivation has been one of the key topics that she demonstrates to me everyday.

For example, she is crawling/scooting across the floor now.  She will literally sit on one side of the room and see something (anything really) that catches her eye, and she's off.  She may take 5 minutes to traverse our apartment's living room.  But when she gets to her destination, she will sit up with a triumphant smile on face marking what looks like a small victory to us.  But to her, she just climbed a mountain.  And if you interfere in any way, usually by picking her up and relocating her in the room.  First chance she gets, she will be heading right back to her original destination (at least until she is sidetracked).  At first it appeared she was stubborn.  But a second glance showed me that she is just simply "motivated".

And her motivation keeps driving her forward.  The other afternoon, she crawled across the floor and pulled up against the couch until she was standing (this is only the second or third time she's done this solo).  It took her several attempts to stand and remain standing.  But no matter how many tumbles she took, she got right back up and tried again.

I started relating her determination to my own goals in life.  When I started this blog in 2012, my drive was to loose weight.  Here I am 2 years later, still working at it.  Not nearly as bad off as I was originally, but still not where I wanted to be.  And then I examined why I haven't reach my goals.  I lost sight of my motivation.  I became complacent and basically quit working out.  Sure, I wasn't trashing my diet completely, as I still watched what I ate.  But I was REALLY even trying.  Then I looked at my daughter.

And I regained sight of my motivation.  Truth of the matter is, when my wife and I got married 10 years ago (as of May 2014), I weighed 145 pounds.  At my heaviest I was breaking 260 pounds which was about two and a half years ago.  Watching my daughter try her best to just move across the room, spoke to me on a level I never really thought of before.  My thought was that one day she's going to want to run across the yard with Dad.  Or she'll want to go for a ride on Daddy's shoulders while Mommy and Daddy go on a walk.  And in my current shape, doing those things would be difficult.  Not impossible, but difficult.

I don't want to look back in 20 years and think of these times as "the times Daddy couldn't keep up".  I owe it to my daughter to be better than that.  She deserves to have those experiences with Mommy and Daddy.  End of story.  And if I don't do something about it now, I will never do something about it.  Even as I write this, I can feel the emotion starting to stir deep down. And I guess when it comes right down to it.  I want to be around for her.  Later in our lives.  I am not old by any means.  I am 32 years old.  I have plenty of time to make the change, but only if I start now.  My original motivation was to look good, look fit, and be healthy.  Now it has shifted to be there for your family (long term), be there for your family (long term) and get healthy.

"Why put off for tomorrow what you can do today?"

Find your motiviation.  It's different for us all.  And make a change.

Posted in: change, daughter, determination, drive, life, motivation, parent, weight loss