It's Motivation Monday! I'll tell you though, today I just did not feel motivated at all, to post anything, or record anything, or do anything. And I'm like, "Okay, I've gotta get motivated!" Do you ever have days like that?
So I turned on some podcasts that I like to listen to, that help motivate me. There's one called the Daily Boost, which I really enjoy. There's another one called Everyday is Saturday, that I really like. I've just barely started listening to the Everyday is Saturday, so I'm still trying to decide on that one, but the guy is definitely very enthusiastic. I also listened to a little bit of A Slob Comes Clean, because I just like her personality, and what she talks about there. And also, Lisa Woodruff over at Organize 365. Those are a few of the podcasts that kind of help me feel motivated to get going, on my life, and my home, and my business, and my family. It's just something I found can help me.
Anyway, as I was sitting there playing Candy Crush 🙄🤣 and listening to those podcasts, trying to get myself to get up and do something this morning. I finally got myself up, and started sorting out my basket with all my papers that I try to go through every week, trying to get organized, plan my week and stuff.
As I was doing this, I came across this little piece of paper with this great quote on it, that I actually had from several weeks ago at church, when somebody handed it to me to read out loud in a class. I've been thinking a lot about this idea of "Jumbled Sunshine," and what the sunshine part stands for, and just that idea of light in our lives. I wanted to share this quote with you:
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| "Darkness reduces our ability to see clearly. It dims our vision of that which was, at one time, plain and clear. When we are in darkness, we are more likely to make poor choices, because we can't see dangers in our path. When we are in darkness, we are more likely to lose hope, because we cannot see the peace and joy that await us, if we just keep pressing forward." - DF Uchtdorf |
Using a Little Light to Walk in Darkness
I love this! You know how you step into a room at night, and you realize the light switch doesn't work? That's the case in our garage right now, the light bulb is burned out, so when you walk in and flip the switch on, it doesn't come on and it's just all dark in there. So sometimes I'll stumble around on my phone to turn on a little flashlight, but other times, I've tried to just kind of walk forward through the garage. But my garage isn't always the cleanest, despite our all our attempts to keep the "garage creep" under control. You know, you get it all cleaned up, and then the stuff starts creeping back in. 🙄
But as you can imagine, it's a little bit scary to walk through the garage without the light on, because the darkness is dimming my vision. I can't really see where is the best place to step, so I'm more likely to make a poor choice like bump into the car, or stumble across a boot, or knock over something. I can't see the peace, and joy, and happiness that awaits me when I walk through the door into my house and see my family in there.
But if I pull out my cellphone, and I turn on the little flashlight, all of a sudden I can see forward, and it's easy to walk forward, and get into my home. Then I'm able to joyfully say, "Hey, everybody. I'm here!" And the kids all shout excitedly, "Mom!" (at least that's what the ideal situation is!) But you know how it is, you just get that happy greeting from your home and/or the people in it.
Maybe you have a pet that runs up, and starts jumping up and down, and is excited to see you. Or you see your comfy slippers, and you can get out of your work clothes, and get into something soft, and comfy, and snuggle down with a hot cup of cocoa, or whatever. Arriving home like that is just always a relief. Even when it's fun and exciting to go places, it's a relief to come home.
If you're walking into your house, and you try to flip on the light, but it doesn't work, it's just so much harder to get to where you're trying to go. But with light, it's easy. You just walk across the garage, and you walk into the house. It's easy peasy, right? 😉
Infusing Light into Your Life
So how does this relate to our lives? Well, in relates to life in a lot of ways, honestly. Like this morning, I didn't feel motivated at all to do anything. It's like I was sitting in the dark. But yet, I have so much to do, oh my gosh, I have so much going on in my life right now. I just feel like my life is in fast forward. Just the ages and stages that my family is at, it just seem like it's kind of starting to run away with me a little bit.
And I know I can stay on top of it, if I sit down, and I plan, and I organize, and I just kind of corral it all together, and look at it, and figure out what I need to do. But sometimes I don't really feel like doing it. So, like today, I sat down and I was playing Candy Crush. And I'm like, "Okay, Monday morning, this probably isn't the best use of my time." Right? But I decided to infuse a little bit of light into my day.
And I did that today by listening to some motivating podcasts. I also listened to a church speech, which motivated me, kind of filled a little bit. I read some inspirational quotes. You can literally go to Twitter, and click on the hashtag "Motivation Monday," and you're gonna see a ton of stuff. I found ways to just start getting some light into my heart, and into my mind, so that then I would want to do stuff.
Have you ever had that happen to you in the middle of the night? You're laying there and you should be sleeping, but you can't sleep because your mind is racing with all these things that you wanna get up and do. But you're like, "I can't really do things at 2:00 a.m.," or you know, "I don't wanna wake up the family." But then when daytime comes, you just wanna sleep. Have you been there?
You have to find a way to get that excitement and motivation into your heart, and into your mind, however you do that. Maybe it's chatting with a good friend, maybe it's brain dumping stuff onto a piece of paper, and just getting things off your mind. Maybe it's reading a good novel, just whatever you need to do, to bring that light into your mind and your heart, rather than that darkness of, "Ugh, I don't wanna do anything. I don't care about anything. I'm achy today, it's cold outside," just all the life complaints.
Try to lift yourself out of that. I know it can be tough, but find things that do lift you up. Maybe it's taking a nice, warm bubble bath. Maybe it's brushing your hair and doing it up special, or do your little girl's ponytails. Whatever it is that can help you feel excited about your life.
Identify what those things are and make yourself a list. Then the next time you're not feeling motivated, just start doing some of them, and keep doing them until you start to feel motivated.
If the entire day goes by, and you've done all these things that were supposed to make you feel excited, and bring in light, and you never really totally felt motivated, you still spent your day doing good, positive things. Right? So there's no loss there. So do those things that you know will bless your life, and make you feel up, and happy, and motivated, even if they're not making you feel motivated at the moment. Just keep doing them anyway.
Lighten Up Your World
I shared this quote on my blog on April 30, 2018, along with a picture that I took last May of a sunset in the evening. And the way that it was going down, behind the mountain, in the distance, it just shot these rays of lights, and these shadows, across our front lawn, and it was so gorgeous. It just made my front yard, which has its share of weeds, and lumps, and bumps, and problems, not look so ordinary anymore. It just lit it up and made it look beautiful, and I thought to myself how our ordinary, daily world, is full of beautiful light, if we just take a minute to look around and see it.
So that's my challenge for you today. Hopefully, that helps you feel a little bit motivated. I want you to look around you, look for the light in your life, look for how you can spread light to other people. Let's just share light, and goodness, and happiness, and motivation, with one another, instead of darkness, and complaining, and difficulty.
And I think you will find (I know I have found) that the more I try to be positive and uplifting, spreading joy and positive things to those around me, the more people respond to me more positively, and it brings me up, too! So even if I'm kind of faking it till I make it, by putting forth that effort, good things come back to me, and lifts me up and makes my day better.
I hope this is helpful to you today!
Have a wonderful Monday!
~JS~ 🌞
#MotivationMonday
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