So, the second month of the year. How is everyone doing with their resolutions? It's usually by the start of this month that most people feel like they have failed too much to continue with the promises they have made to themselves. Then, of course, the "season of love" is upon us and that mean hundreds of pieces of chocolate are thrown into our lives. Now, this could be because we have some who brings us chocolate, or the amount of healthy food that you have been eating feels like it's killing your soul. Chocolate fixes most of those things. Though, don't take my word for it because I am not a doctor.
I think one of the biggest identifiers in if someone is going to stick to what they say they are going to do is if they talk about it. I know there are people out there that are all talk, but for the most part, if you discuss what you are doing to change your life with other people they normally help and support you. I am guilting of being mostly all talk this year thus far. I know that I have needed to get to the gym and really start to work out, not just go to say I went. I really need to make that a part of my lifestyle not just a box to tick off a list. While I have failed in that area, my eating out less and healthier has gotten surprisingly better. I have cut way down on the soda, and have made more meals at home. I have saved some money from this too. I know that this is because I started talking about the days I do well, and the days I don't, with friends of mine. I know that there were a few days I said "screw it" and had what I wanted when I wanted. In the past that would just give me a pass to not get back on eating better. However, I find that the next day I want the water and the healthy food back.
Ok, so why am a talking so much about eating better, and what does this have to do with motivation?
Talking about, and getting excited about, the things you are doing in your life makes you want to continue to do them.
Now, talking is very much one of my strong points, but when it came to Michael Oher, not was not so much the case.
Michael Oher is a young man of very few words. With some help, he was granted admission into a private school to help him to get a better education, and a chance to get him out of the life he was in. Michael was hard to miss at his new school. Not only was he a larger young man, but it was easy to tell that he was homeless. He would do his best of keep the few clothes that he had clean, and feed himself with any food that he could find. He tried to stay under everyone's radar. That is until he met Leigh Tuohy and her family.
Leigh had notices Michael around campus, her children also attended the same school, but never gave him much thought. Until one night after her daughters volleyball game, she noticed him walking around in the bitter cold with just a short sleeve shirt on. She prompted her husband, Sean, to stop the car and asked him where he was going. When he answered the gym, because it was warm, she knew that she could not leave him out in the cold. She put him in the car and took him home and he stayed there through the Thanksgiving holiday.
Well, that was the original plan.
It didn't take long for Leigh, Sean, and the rest of the family to love Michael like one of their own. They got him his own room, some more clothes, and lot of love. Leigh did everything she could to help Michael succeed in school. Once he found that he could play football very well, with the right motivation, she knew that his grades needed to improve so that he could be eligible for scholar ships for college.
When the recruiters started coming in, they knew they need more help than what the school could provide alone. They brought in a private tutor, Ms. Sue, to help him learn how to learn, and show him that he was capable of more than what the world thought him to be.
He made it to graduation with a 2.52 GPA and a scholarship to Old Miss. Proving that he could do anything.
What I loved about this movie is that Michael didn't talk much. I know that sound very rude and unheard of, but give me a chance. Michael is a gentle giant. Just because he is kind and quiet doesn't mean that he can't find or defend the people that he loves. When he is pushed to the limits, he will do whatever it takes to take care of those people that he cares for most in the world. He can become scary, and unpredictable when he is pushed. However, when he does choose to ask for something, or say something, you know it's something that he has thought about for a long time. When he chooses to open up to Leigh about his childhood, you are compelled to lean in and learn about his past. When he talks about why he wants to go to Old Miss you want to hear him because it's what he truly feels about the school. Michael never talks just to say something. He speaks when he knows he needs to use his voice, and when he is excited about something he loves.
I have started on something in the last year that I have only told one person about. It's something that I still cannot believe that God has called me to do. While I don't want to go around and tell everyone I know about what I am doing, I am very thankful to the one friend that I have entrusted the secret with. She didn't judge me when I told her about it. She has asked me how the project was going, and she has encouraged me to tell her all of the steps I am taking as I am taking them. She has walked with me for a year already in the thing that I don't know when it will end.
Talking about the things you are excited of accomplishing makes doing, whatever it is, easier and more fun. I just did a tour and few other things I needed to do to help me on this journey and my friend has been there with me this whole time. She has been just as excited, and sometime more excited, about this with me. I was planning on not telling anyone what I was working on. However, I have come to learn that if I didn't have my friend for me to talk to about everything concerning this project, I would have given up. I would have stopped because I would have no one to tell me that I could do what I was called to do, and I could do it well.
Do I need to talk about it every single minute of every single day? No. Honestly, most of the time when she brings it up first I want to change the subject because imposter syndrome is real. However, having the space to talk about it has given me the push to do the steps that I have taken and it's gotten me this far.
Talk about the things that you are passionate about. It could be just the motivation you need to continue with your dream.
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