Hello, seastars! Today will be about the one thing I struggle with the most, other than routine. Motivation is commonly seen as this constant driving force responsible for all accomplishment. I'm sorry, but the movie montage lied to you. Motivation is important, but it is only the gunshot at the start of your footrace.
Let's consider the footrace. Rather, all that leads up to a race. The first thing is interest, not everyone enjoys running. Then there is training, no racer wakes up race ready. Without conditioning their bodies, racers would hurt themselves trying to compete. Next is the day of the race, everyone is lined up, the air is thick with anticipation and adrenaline. The racers take their mark and a hush falls over the onlookers. The gun goes off and the racers surge to the finish line, all wanting the same goal. Not everyone will place high in this race, maybe not everyone will finish.
When you look at the winners of your favorite sports, what do they all have in common? They trained, hard. They devoted hours of time to practice. Honing their skills. But why? Michael Phelps, by his own account in his book
No Limits, was not always motivated to go to practice and he is the most decorated Olympian athlete. The answer is passion. You find that one thing that just lights a fire in your heart, and that fire stays lit. You pursue that fire, learning all you can about it. In some cases, you may need to condition your body in the pursuit. Finally, you're ready to get serious and compete with other people with that same fire. The competition is fierce and along the way, everyone feels that urge to quit. Some do. Others keep pushing out of discipline and passion.
The three are tied together and cannot exist alone. Motivation, passion, and discipline. They work together at various points to keep your fire lit, even if it does not always shine the brightest. That's not the point. The point is to keep your fire burning the longest, always forging your path for the next season. Sometimes seasons take a long time to pass, sometimes seasons are revisited. But you will persevere.
I can't tell you how much time I've wasted waiting on motivation to light me up. The motivation to do my homework, to clean my home, to shovel my drive, to learn a new trick. Honestly, I still struggle with waiting for motivation. I know now that I need to be disciplined in my pursuits, whether those pursuits are personal or professional does not matter. I am passionate about my goals as a mermaid, there have been plenty of times my motivation lined up with my passion. But there have also been times I needed to exercise discipline instead of relying on motivation. Anything worth having or doing in your life deserves and requires hard work. From owning a puppy to pushing for that better lap time in the pool, everything worth pursuing is worth pursuing with discipline.
Whatever it is you are struggling to achieve, you can do it, you are strong and capable. And whatever you are struggling to achieve deserves all the hard work, discipline, and passion you can muster. Create your own motivation.
At the end of a long day creating your own motivation and striving to accomplish your herculean tasks, it's important (and nice) to pamper yourself. Today's mask is not a DIY, but is marketed at a price I feel is more than fair. I use the
ELF Bubble Mask every night and the results are phenomenal. My skin is clearer, my makeup holds up longer, the massive breakout I recently developed is less red. All in 10 days. When I apply the mask, the bubbles form instantly and feel like 10,000 tiny feathers are tickling my face. The sensation is not overwhelming, though. I find it easy to remove the mask, and in the morning my skin is soft, hydrated, and glowing.
As always, be kind.
-Seaspray
