Letters to My Life

32. Slugging Along

As someone who's trying to be motivational, you'd think I'd be more motivated to get things done.

Nope.

I have the worst time management skills of anyone out there and my motivation is so slow. It's hard to get up in the morning. It's hard to get out of the shower. It's hard to pack up all my things and leave for work. It's hard to go to school afterward until 9pm and it's hard to go home and do homework and repeat the same cycle all over again. Senioritis has really got me. I think the only time I'm really motivated to do anything is when a sudden idea strikes and I have a goal for a new chapter. It's just getting around to writing it that's the issue.

I recently downloaded this app called Reflectly. It's a motivational journal. It gives you little messages in the mornings to start off your day positively and you can add your stories for every day. It's cool to look back on, and reviewing my day gives me more motivation to make the next one just as great. 

I have one more semester of college left and I'll probably be super busy with it so I might not have motivation to do much else. Then I'm off to bigger and better things. I think having motivation is just getting past that one hurdle.

One of my fondest memories of motivation was when I was 12 years old. My mom and I went on a trip to hike Guadalupe Peak. That's the tallest mountain in Texas at an 8750feet elevation. The first part of the hike was exhausting. Since we had to hike up basically the face of a cliff, there were steep zig-zagging paths up the side of the mountain. My mom had to keep pushing me to get to the next turn. Just get to that tree. Just get to that rock. And eventually, the curves flattened out into a long stretch of path with overhanging trees for shade. I came out with a couple of blisters and sore feet, but I had made it past the hardest part of my hike, and the rest better. Not easy, but not as hard as those first few curves.

If you take that example and apply it to the hard parts in life, you can see why we need motivation. We need someone like my mom to say, "Just take this test.", "Just call to make the appointment." "Just pay this bill." And you come away from your challenges with a few scrapes. You get burned sometimes. But, in the end, you did it, right? So you're ready for your next challenge.

Last year I had the pleasure of going on what we LDS people call a Trek. We commemorate the sacrifice of our pioneer ancestors who traveled across the plains to Salt Lake City, Utah to start their new life in the 1840s. We wear pioneer clothes and bonnets and we pack our luggage for the weekend into a pushing handcart. We don't get cars. We don't have horses. It's just us. Sweating. Making our own dinners. Pushing our luggage for almost 30 miles right back around to where we entered the camp. We wake up early. We're divided into groups called families with 8 people we don't know and a "Ma" and "Pa" who take care of us. And it's exhausting.

But, the feeling of being on Trek is incredible. It may seem pointless to walk around back to where we started, but to us, and specifically to me, it's a huge accomplishment. I get to know so many wonderful people. I feel the love of my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I feel like I can do ANYTHING! And even though it might have been difficult, I can compare other things in my life to it. One of the jokes we LDS youth have is saying, "Hey, it won't be as hard as Trek." It helps us put everything into perspective. That we have it pretty good. That there are people in the world who don't get to be lazy. That pushing those handcarts is an everyday thing for some people. And that crying doesn't solve our problems. And I love it. I love feeling accomplished. I love feeling like I can do anything. And I love knowing that facing my trials won't be so hard anymore.

I also recently finished this booklet that the female youth in my church participate in. We call it Personal Progress. Although the Young Women program just changed so I think it's called the Youth Program instead of Personal Progress now, but you do a bunch of things like public service, reading scriptures, planning activities, and memorizing articles to better yourself as a daughter of God. And I just finished mine. Almost 5 years of working on it. And I've earned my medallion. If you want, you can compare it to earning your Eagle Scout. Although we don't get a Court of Honor for it. But it still is a great accomplishment. 

Having the motivation to do hard tasks isn't simple. Some people, like me, find inspiration and motivation in writing. Some people watch a TV show. Others paint for hours. Some watch a TED talk. Some might just cry it out. Whatever you do to help you get motivated, just do it. I know you can. It's not impossible.

Thank you for reading, stay healthy and happy 🤙 -Sam

Twitter @SAMBarmy19

Instagram @sam_bond16