I was recently chatting with some friends about motivation. We’re all feeling a little less motivated these days. We have plenty of excuses, but no good reasons. I thought about how to reply to my friend’s quest for motivation and it led me back to a book I started about a month ago: Rhinoceros Success, by Scott Alexander. It’s a cute, short read, and it classifies the people of the world into two categories: rhinos and cows. The latter are complacent, the former are go-getters. Would you rather be a cow who is stuck in a pasture or a rhino charging through the jungle toward your goals and dreams?
A rhino, of course. But how do you find that spark that ignites the momentum and excitement of charging?
You find your why.
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
Your why is the driving force behind your decisions. It should be the thing you keep coming back to, the thing you focus on when you need to re-center your mind. It should remind you exactly what all the hard work, sweat, and tears mean. It’s your reason for doing whatever it is that you want or need to do.
For example, I want to live a healthy lifestyle. I want to look nice, help prevent early aging and disease, and set an example for my children. So I workout. I want to eat healthy food so my body can function at it’s full potential, so I try to screen what I allow into my body: nutrients or junk. These things are ways to meet the end goal – a healthy life – but they are not my why. My why is that I want to be healthy enough to be able to run marathons when I’m seventy or eighty. I have this vision of a somewhat tan, gray-haired lady running through the streets and keeping pace with some of the younger runners, and that’s what I hope to achieve. That’s my why for a healthy lifestyle. I want to be there for my kids, but I also want eighty-year-old me to thank 30-year-old me for taking care of her body. In this case, my why is the bigger picture, the long-term goal. It’s the image that I remind myself of when I want to give up training or binge-eat poptarts.
Did You Know You’re Someone’s Why?
Did you know that you’re one of the reasons why Jesus sacrificed Himself? God created the world and said it was good. He had a relationship with Adam and Eve, but then they disobeyed Him and made a multi-generational mess of humanity’s relationship with the divine. Jesus was the only solution, the only way the creation could be reunited with the Creator. We were the reason Jesus died; we couldn’t save ourselves.
We are the ones God loves so much. We are the why He chose to redeem us.
You’re Here for a Reason
Did you know that you are also my why? I wrote Messy Bun Mantras for you, dear friend. I started this blog for you. I may not know your name yet and there’s a possibility we may never meet, but I’m here, writing, sharing, and praying, for you.
Why? Because no one should be alone. No woman should feel like she is the only woman in the world dealing with anxiety, depression, motherhood, faith, relationships – you name it. I’m here because I believe that God uses us in ways we can’t imagine or know and I want to be a part of His plan. More importantly, I want you to know you are Loved and Brave.
How Do We Find Our Why?
Think about your passions. What excites you? What keeps you weaving dreams at night even though you’re wide-awake? What does your future look like? What does your children’s future look like?
Only you know the answers to those questions, but when you discover the answer, write it down. Put it in a prominent place where you’ll see it and be reminded. This is why I’m here putting in the work. This is what makes it all worth it in the end.
When you figure out your why you can start working toward it by setting mini goals and plans. How will you achieve your why? What steps do you need to take to get the next phase of the plan? What is step one anyway?
Come back next week and find out.