Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Motivation.
Frustrations In The Life Of A Writer
There are so many wasted hours, that pass so slowly, when the job you do, is not the job you want to do. It steals the day, sometimes even the evening as well. Doing something you hate, diminishes your energy and therefore your dreams.
By Kaarina Vanderkamp6 years ago in Motivation
Twitter Positivity
Like many others, especially in my age group, I’m a little bit obsessed with social media. Everyday I hop onto Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to scroll through my feeds of friends, family, and news to stay up to date and interact with the world around me. It’s perfectly normal for their to be negativity on my feed, which I am sure is the same for most people. Twitter, more so than other social media platforms, has a reputation for being extremely toxic, especially given the current circumstances. All across the app people are venting and arguing about every topic from politics to their personal lives and strangers are able to interact with these outpourings. This is what makes Twitter so toxic. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram curate feeds centred on what the user searches for on their platform and who they follow. Twitter does the same to a certain extent, but there is also a lot more interaction beyond these parameters.
By InfiniTori6 years ago in Motivation
Dear Deer, Please forgive me.
I love Saturday mornings in the country! I get up early even when I do not have to because I want to get out to the pasture. The pasture is a big open field approximately 6-7 acres large and bordered at its back by a dense forest, which is my view every time I open my front door. When I am early enough, which is about half-past dawn, I get to see the deer rise and greet their day.
By Hope Hubbard6 years ago in Motivation
Here's To You
Here's to those of us who work not one but multiple jobs to make ends meet. We're not mad at it, it's what we have to do to well..... Live. Those of us who work a decent day job, but still have a gig job driving people to their destinations safely or simply deliver our food when we're just too tired or frankly lazy to cook today.
By Quinten Larsen6 years ago in Motivation
"Don't be like this!"
Am I the only one who hears this all the time?! People keep on telling me that "don`t be like this", "don`t be like that", "don`t act like this", "don`t act like that". For a little bit, I thought that it was because of my religious beliefs or my background, but even after a fresh start, I still hear it all around. Define me "this" and "that", please do, especially if you want me to be myself, then what is the problem with who I am. It sounds like being myself within the boundaries which were set without my knowledge. People keep on saying, that I don`t seem to be the same person who I used to be. I don`t think anyone does. We continually change and grow, so by now I don`t understand... None of it. I just don`t get it.
By Dory6 years ago in Motivation
Summer through the window...
We all have been in the exact same shoes in the last 8ish months. No matter where you are, you are dealing with the uncomfortable circumstances of the Corona virus. I`m not just talking about not being able to going to the major music festivals or travel around the world, but I mean the change of seasons. This whole global pandemic started in March and this is the end of October now. I feel like the good weather and the summer in general just passed us and we were only allowed to watch it through the window. You know, it comes, stays and goes every year, but this time we pretty much skipped the "stay" portion. Came and left, and we are just blinking in surprise, wondering what just happened...
By Dory6 years ago in Motivation
Blank Canvas
Since I was a little girl, tattoos have always fascinated me. The untold stories, the memories, the choices behind why that specific piece of art was chosen to represent that moment in time. I love the expressions that come across the face when you ask about the visible artwork. To see the emotion come flooding back and suddenly you're in that moment with them. To hear the tales of love, loss, pain, triumph, drunken mistakes, remembrance, remorse, growth, and passion.
By Katherine Morales6 years ago in Motivation
Throwing Money Away Like Its Garbage
When I think of money I think of malls, nails, hair, and etc. Its all a girl wants to be pretty and to have the latest fashion. My parents are very successful and have earned there riches. When it came to money for me it was a whole another story. I didn't take money seriously. I just thought it was a piece if paper that could get me anything. I mean money can get you anything you want. On the other other hand you have to work for it and I wasn't the best at that.
By hunter ruchelle6 years ago in Motivation
Mindful Dreams
When I was young all I really wanted was to know who I was and be recognized for the task I would take on to become someone recognizable to the world. Little did I know that task would be a whirlwind of ups and downs that I would learn from. It all started with basketball, one dribble at a time, one shot in the hoop just to make me feel like I could accomplish a job given to me. A job that I believed was my god given right since I grew to love it. However, just because you love something doesn’t always mean it’s for you. This is what I had to learn early on. Some dreams aren’t meant for you and that is something I had to learn to be okay with the hard way. However, I didn’t learn this for a while and didn’t realize I was learning it up until I had a moment of severe discipline as I would like to recall. That story is for later on in this entry. Basketball on a team in. a college disciplined scenario was a lot harder than I thought. Despite the ongoing athletic training I had to undergo and the endless hell week of testing my abilities giving it my all. I didn’t make the team and my heart was shattered. I felt like I could at least be a substitute for the team but even the coach told me you just don’t have the skills to play and that hurt like nothing I’ve ever experienced in life. Although, I had to move on my big heart couldn’t settle for something complacent, it had to be something amazing, something that could change me forever and it did. I decided to take on theatre arts and what a journey that would become.
By Cerina Galvan6 years ago in Motivation
10 Things I Discovered When Learning to Like Myself
1. Trying to please everyone doesn't please anyone, most of all you. I was a healthcare social worker for 18 years. The job of the social worker is to basically tie together all of the other departments working with a patient to ensure all of their goals and needs are met. When multiple departments are involved, multiple people need things. Most often, multiple people need things right now. I did my best to try and do everything for everyone. At the end of the day nothing was completely done, everyone was mad and I was burned out. Don't do that. Focus on the order of importance and some other people will have to wait. The same goes for family. Every holiday was Mom's family and Dad's family who wanted time. Then it became the parents families of my significant others. It's impossible to be in four places at once, no matter how many desserts are offered. Plan your schedule with what works for you and work on compromise. If someone refuses to cooperate then that is their choice. Some may be mad but they will get over it. Do not ruin your holiday trying to appease everyone else's. Make your effort definitely, you can't blow off your family but if someone is unreasonable and behaving badly then it is okay to choose not to interact with them. 2. It's okay if people don't like you A supervisor once told me 10% of people will love you no matter what. Another 10% will hate you no matter how hard you try. Do what you can for the 80% in the middle that can go either way. Not everyone is going to have warm and fuzzy feelings toward you and that's okay. A friend of mine was self conscious about her legs. She's a beautiful woman but she doesn't see herself that way all of the time. She told me it was 90 degrees out, her air conditioning was broken and she was wearing sweatpants. Our conversation went like this: "Why?" I asked her. "I don't like the way people look at me when I go out." she said. "What people?" I asked her. "Oh I don't know, whoever is around" she replied. "So, strangers?" I asked. "Yes I suppose so." Girl are you listening to yourself? "What effect does the opinion of a stranger, who you will never see again have on your life?" "None" was her answer. "Exactly. put some shorts on." Now of course you have to follow rules of society but wear what you want, do what is right. If someone has a problem with you, that's exactly what it is: their problem. 3. Love what you do or find a way to do what you love Day one of social work school I will never forget the professor saying if you're here to make money or change the world I can tell you to start off that you won't. Pssshhhh.... that's because no one has done it yet I thought. The professor was right. There were weeks I would sit in my house that needed repairs, stirring my hot dogs and ramen noodles and looking at my empty bank account thinking how did I get here? I would go into work and, well, see number 1. Years upon years of the same, in a job that couldn't go anywhere wears down on a person. Now I love the field of social work, I do absolutely love solving problems, making goals, meeting varieties of people and helping people out of bad situations. Some people didn't want to be helped. Some people blamed me for their problems, some people thought I could create a solution that doesn't exist. It was my job, I was told. Eventually you wear out, you need a break, you burn out. I needed a break long before I was told I needed a break. Rock bottom came when I wound up in intensive care and the diagnosis list was so long the doctors couldn't figure out how I was functioning as well as I had been. I can't anymore. I can't hold an office job, I can't be available at a moment's notice and I have my health to worry about. Writing was always my outlet. Most of my writing I never let people read. Now that I've been out of the workforce, I've been writing. I published a book. Another one comes out in a few days. People read my work and they liked it! Guess what? I love writing! Now, writing doesn't currently pay the bills. It may never pay the bills. I am still having to file a disability application and sacrifices are being made but my stress level is mostly manageable. I still have panic attacks, I don't like to leave my house much but now I don't have to. Lesson learned: There is always a different path you can choose. If you're not happy with the one you're on, take the fork in the road. 4. Your parents were right. Rules? I don't need their stupid rules. When I grow up I don't have to clean if I don't want to, I can stay up as late as I want, I don't have to go to school. I'm never going to treat my kids the way they treat me. I was about 25 and had lost both of them before I realized I was in way over my head and should have listened. There's so many things I do today that I wished I had learned more from them. Managing money, cooking, deep cleaning, self care, the list goes on and on. Bottom line: no matter how old you are, you still need Mom and Dad in whatever shape they may come in: single parents, two moms, two dads whatever. Remember them, talk to them if they're still here and most importantly learn from them. 5. Living for anyone but you is not living Your. life. cannot. revolve. around. other. people. the end. 6. just because you were trained to do it, doesn't mean you have to. I graduated college in 2002 with a Bachelor's degree in social work. I did that job for 18 years, I physically can't anymore. Sometimes I feel my degree was a waste but in reality it has helped me in so many other areas. Just because I have a social work degree, doesn't mean I have to be a social worker. I learned how to actively and passively listen, I learned how to pick out what someone is telling me and make sure I understand it correctly, I learned empathy and how to think outside the box. These skills are things many people lack yet come in handy every day. They also help to create characters, enabling me to get inside of a character, to feel what they would feel and to solve problems. The fact that I wrote the problem into existence in the first place is beside the point. 7. Don't work too hard, your dog misses you Once upon a time I lived alone. Not completely alone, My dog Daffy was there. Daffy is my best friend. We walked every morning. I went to work. She got crazy hyper when I came home, we played in the yard, we played with toys and then we cuddled in bed when it was time to go to sleep. My hours became later and later. I couldn't say my work load was unrealistic, it all had to be done. My hours got longer and longer. I was too tired when I got home. I did a deep clean one weekend and found all of Daffy's toys under my bed. She'd been trying to play with me for goodness knows how long and I had been too tired. Go home on time. See your family. Play with your dog. Remember what they say, dogs are part of our life but to them we are their whole life. Dogs deserve good lives full of fun with their owners. 8. Want what you need. Needing what you want is bonus. We as a culture like stuff. We like buying a lot of stuff. There are certain things that we need. We need nutritious food and water, decent shelter, clothing, ways to get places etc. Everything else is bonus. Learn to live within your budget. Save for a rainy day. be happy when you are able to acquire everything you need. When there is extra money for things you want then splurge but learn to distinguish between need and want in your budget. You don't have to impress anyone with the latest anything. You need to make yourself comfortable. 9. Ask for help Asking for help is sooooo hard. We feel weak, we feel we should have handled things ourselves. We hate these feelings. Sometimes everything is too much, or we don't understand. Maybe we're not strong enough. Maybe it's addiction, mental illness, Whatever the case may be, a job needing more people is better than a job not getting done. When the task at hand is too much, seek help, if you don't get it, seek from another source. 10. Be led by leaders, if you can't find one, be one. Jobs have a hierarchy system. There's a boss, there's managers, there's employees. That boss is appointed in their position to lead. Managers help the boss do that. Sometimes, we got stuck. Your boss needs to be the person you can go to and say 'I don't understand' or 'I need help.' A leader will help you through whatever situation you are in. Help you to figure it out and point you in the right direction. Have you ever had a boss that told you to figure it out yourself when you sought help? Or how about "I'm not doing your work for you." What about a co-worker that vents to you because they have been to the boss and gotten that reaction. How about community projects? Ever show up to the church rummage sale and find everyone running around like chickens? Leaders create order. They get things done and give assignments to others in order to make that happen. If you leader is not leading you, be the leader that's needed. I have struggled with anxiety my entire life. I have had poor self esteem for as long as I can remember. A lot of people in my life have taken advantage of that, some still do. I still have a long way to go to figure myself out and I may never do that, but I'm proud of what I've done so far. Never be afraid to change something you're unhappy with. You deserve more.
By Amanda U6 years ago in Motivation
