What's your motivation?

What is your motivation for staying healthy?

This morning, I went on a nice jog with my five sons. It had rained the night before, so the air was clear and it was not too hot yet. Everyone was doing great at first. We were trotting along at a very nice pace being sure to not run too fast so the little guys could keep up. About halfway through the route, my nine year old began getting a little tired and started to lose his motivation. I kept encouraging him, telling him that this is good for him and what a strong healthy man he will become if he kept doing these types of activities. I realized he could care less about what I was saying.

But then on a particular part of the route, there was a long stretch of puddles that had accumulated from the evening rain the night before. As we approached the puddles, I noticed my nine year old begin to lift his eyebrows a bit. He then picked up the pace and ran ahead of all of us. When he came upon the first puddle, he jumped with a mighty leap right in the middle of it landing on one foot. He then leaped off that foot and landed with his other foot in another puddle. He began finding such joy in his puddle jumping that he forgot he was actually exercising with us. This series of puddles completely changed his attitude about the jog from that moment on. My words of encouragement could only go so far, but the opportunity for a little joy in the midst of hard work impacted his motivation even further.

Sometimes motivation comes in unexpected forms. When it comes to staying healthy, we may be motivated by how it makes us look, how it makes us feel, or some other medical health reason. But there are other smaller motivations along the way that we need to pay attention to. Look for those small motivations that matter to you. What is your puddle?

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