Saturday, January 07, 2006

Where's the motivation?

Kids are easy. Well, not always, but as far as figuring out how to make them do something (or stop doing something) a kid's motivators are pretty easy to figure out. My toddler will pee in the toilet and clean up his Brio train for stickers. My 10 year old would rake the entire acre+ yard or clean the garage for an hour of uninterrupted Playstation time or a couple of iTunes downloads. My almost-teen daughter broke a habit she's had since infancy in exchange for the West Side Story soundtrack.

But what motivates adults is a little harder to figure. Sex? Money? Power? Public accolades? It's hard. I can't even tell what REALLY motivates me, so how on earth can I set goals to work toward? Sure slimmer, healthier, less debt-ridden, they're all good goals but what's the motivator? And what's the BIG goal I'm after? Contentment is a great ambition, and a good bit of the time, I'm pretty close, but is it really where I'm headed? Is it enough?

Don't teenagers usually go through this? The whole what do I want to be? where do I want to go? thing. Oh lordy, don't tell me this is a midlife issue. Guess I have some soul searching and list making to do.

2 comments:

Jen said...

Soul searching is life long, don't you think? IMHO, it's healthy! Jen

Vicky aka Stichr said...

I was {snort} 46 or 47 when I finally decided what I wanted to be when I *grow* up. As a young woman my goal was to raise my children, and with that pretty much under control, Midlife Hit as it has with you. I figured I couldn't reach 50 with out knowing what I wanted to do/be. So I have less than 365 days to get good at...being a Quilter. There it was staring me in the face all the time!
A while back you mentioned wanting the librarian job at the elementry school. Still in your future??