This is Day 9 of the 21-Day Journaling Challenge held in Nov 2011. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Hi everyone – Welcome to Day 9 of 21DJC! :)
Yesterday’s question was: “On a Scale of 1-10, How Much Do You Love Yourself?“. (Read the responses.)
Self-love is such a tricky topic. Do you love yourself? How much do you love yourself?
The modern society has taught us to be unhappy with ourselves. That we’re not thin enough, not toned enough, not muscular enough, not attractive enough, not rich enough, not smart enough, not skilled enough, not successful enough, not accomplished enough, not well-known enough – and what have you.
Because of that, feelings of self loathe become embedded in us, subconsciously. Our journey through life then becomes a process where we reverse what we were conditioned with since young; where we discover who we are on the inside; where we evolve into our ideal selves.
I’ve come quite a long way where self-love is concerned. In the past, I really hated myself. I was emotionally stingy, I was judgmental, I was critical – I was basically difficult to be around. I didn’t even like me – there were often times when I felt that I could never stand it if I ever had to be around someone who had the exact personality as mine. I didn’t realize it then, but looking back, my self-love was probably in the negative range.
It’s been a few years, but I’ve worked on becoming a better person since then, and I’m a lot more at peace with who I am today. I think I’m still far from being my ideal self, and there’s a lot I need to work on, but I appreciate myself a lot more than I used to.
I believe being a better person is a journey and not an end point. By constantly growing, it helps me to become a better person day after day, which in turn makes me appreciate myself more. If there’s ever anything I don’t like about myself, I’ll reflect on it, develop my desired traits, and shed off the undesirable ones. I believe I’m on the right path, and in time to come I’ll achieve the same level of unconditional, self-love which my higher self has for me.
With that said, let’s now move to today’s question!
21DJC Day 9
On Day 6, you answered the question: What Frustrates You?. Today, I’d like to invite you to think about something different:
What Drives You?
What drives you in life? What do you live for? What are the times when you feel charged up and ready to take on the world? And why?
(Today’s question can be found in #77 of 101 Important Questions To Ask Yourself In Life.)
Your Task Today:
- Reflect and answer today’s question. There’s no word limit – whether minimum or maximum. Write as few or as many words as you want. It’s all up to what you want to express!
- Share your answer. After you are done writing, copy and paste your answer in the comments area and post it there.
- Check out other participants’ answers. Other participants will be sharing their answers too, so feel free to read and reply to their answers. This is a group course, so let’s support each other in these 21 days.
((Images: Empty book for journaling, Determined woman))
If you like my articles, join my community of 65,000 readers and get my latest articles delivered to your inbox. Your email is safe. 100% no spam.
mmm. this is a tough one! Usually its friend’s words of encouragement. Sometimes it’s when I start a project that I’ve been putting off and get some good results , this encourages me to do more.
My motivation has highs and lows and I’d like to get it flowing a bit more to improve my business and attract more clients. I didn’t realise when I started as a freelance worker I would need to motivate myself so much, I thought it would come naturally. I’m sure this will change soon after a change of location for the winter.
Drive. It’s an incredibly inspirational word for some and for others it could just mean taking the car out to run errands. For me, the live I want to love and the emotions I want to experience drive me. It’s not just about getting that dream job, car, house, or anything else material. For me, it’s all about how good I feel about my actions and my thoughts. I have always felt an immense feeling of gratitude everytime I help someone. From the smallest things such as editing an essay , or holding the door open for a disabled person–these are the little things in life that remind me of what life has to offer. It doesn’t have to be about the diamonds and the riches all of the time. With that in mind, I do want to live a nice life and give a shot to every opportunity that comes my way. I want to be able to love immensely and generously. I think that’s what drives me the most–showing and receiving any type of warm, loving care for anyone. Because when someone cares, your whole world can change.
What motivates me… hmmmm….
I think that motivation is important and wanting to live every moment in the present taking in the sites, sounds, smells, and feeling the different textures each day. Finding something to know that your life is improving in its quality. Wanting to live and not die is important.
I spend so many years as a victim and now I am a survivor moving on to the last phase and that if THRIVING. Getting intoxicated on every day and realizing that I am alive to experience whatever adventure comes my way be it good or bad.
Knowing You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”
Makes me think that I can do a quarter of what they did gives me motivated to try to accomplish what I can. Great people with such accomplishments to their credit just gives me inspiration and motivation. Not looking at the road blocks and thinking outside the box to pass them by is exhilarating.
I often get in a funk and stuck in a rut, but when I think about what they did, I am immediately excited.
I also have an inspirational compliment to me and he helps me realize that I am a survivor and am thriving. I thank him. We balance each other and we can see wonders.
I am also grateful to my God that he has opened up my mind to the fact that inspiration can even come in the form of a sunset, a wonderful cup of tea or coffee, or in a smile from someone that is passing by.
If you always look for inspiration and motivation, you will find it. If you arent looking you just may miss something that will change your life.
Keep your eyes, heart, mind and soul open… Then you won’t miss it.
PS the quote is by H Jackson Brown, Jr.
At the present stage in my life the simple act of daily living drives me.
In the past I have had many drivers in my life: education and insatiable thirst for knowledge was the longest I think, romantic love in my late teenstweens, motherly love (10 years+), exercising compulsivelyfood-fobia to look good, material well-being, paintingphotographypoetry and other intellectual pursuits to “discover” myself, being a disco queen, ironing out my material situation, mourning my imperfect selfchildhood etc..
All those drivers distilled themselves into the present state of contentment with who and where I am. I guess there is no driver anymore.. driver indicates a state of intensity that has been but is not present anymore.. it drove until it slowed down.. what exists now is simplyenjoying the state where the past drivers shoved me into.. today: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 2:31 pm typing this l-e-t-t-e-r.. enjoying the typing.. having fun with it. enjoying Celeste concept and others presence in this place..
… but this is now.. in 5 minutes things may shift into a different gear.. things change constantly and I am enjoying any change that comes my way.. big and small
What drives me in this life, is the desire to have a better condition.
I’m charge up when I see an opportunity to get a better condition in life, and the success rate is high.
Wow Celes, you really make me think I don’t know myself at all :)
So it’s a good thing I’m going this challenge!
I thought the last one was the most difficult. Nope, this one took over it’s place easily…
So, what drives me? I honestly….don’t really know. Maybe it can’t be defined? Like love, or passion generally, it’s just there.
I understand that knowing what drives a person has in itself a great potential.
In many aspects we can find little things that motivate us to do a certain thing, behave in a certain way, but trying to unify those little motivations in a whole is a complicated task.
I’ve been fighting to take 30lbs (initially 45 – 15 is down) for 2 years. Few days ago it dawned on me that I probably never levered on the real reason I want to shed the weight. That I hadn’t had enough drive, if I had I would’ve already be done with that. I guess in most stuff, I still have to go trough trial and error to find that golden string. University is another example – generally, I know I want good grades and that they are important to me. So I have some drive, and I do fairly good, but I still lack the motivation to put in that extra work that would really separate me from the crowd.
Just as looking good doesn’t do enough for me getting in shape, finding a good job is not a cause motivating enough to get me maximum grades.
And I’m starting to think that the key is something in me – not how others would perceive it. How a certain thing would make me feel.
And that means that not all conventional goals of the society must be my cup of tea. I should be my measure.
I didn’t give the exact answer to the question, but it made me dig a bit under the surface. Right now, I can’t tell what drive is, I can only tell what it feels like. But I’m only 19. There is a lot of life to explore it. And I plan on finding my answers :)
I´m mostly driven by the future, by long term ´goals´ (I’m not entirely sure goal is the right word here, but I don’t know a better one just now)
I want to make a positive contribution to the world by helping others. This is already part of my life, since I’m working with mentally handicapped (if it’s an incorrect term, please tell me the right one!) but I want/need to do more.
What drives me as well is the deep felt wish to raise my sons to be conscious, balanced people who follow their hearts.
Hmmm. Lets see. I am driven by the fact that hopefully, I will wake up each morning and be a different person than the person I was before. My children drive me to to excel at being the best mother I can be to them and want to be the best person I can be for them. I want to be able to sacrifice, to love, to play, and to give all that I have so that they will have a wonderful life. I want them to look back when they are older and reflecting and say, I had a great childhood. With that picture in my head I wake up every morning and try to be that person(I hardly ever succeed). It is a hard thing to do but if you keep working at it and you have a goal someday you will get there. I am also driven to be a good wife. This one is more of a struggle. My husband is an angel for putting up with me. Eventually, I will get there.
I think love is what keeps me going. I would do anything for the ones I love. To make them feel better, to help them. It gives my life a meaning. I feel driven, I feel powerful, I feel I can do anything when they believe in me. And I’m working on finding this fuel deep within and not always in their appreciation. But as a true INFP, my strenght comes from helping others.
What makes me wake up every morning with a smile on my face? Knowing that God exists and each day brings me one step closer to Him.
Hi celes :mrgreen: how are you doing i want to thank you 1000000 times for helping us. What really drives me? To be honest, my desires and laziness drive me all the time. Sometimes i feel that i’m strong and control my life with my conscious but other time i just procrastinate my life and i feel that everyone in this planet is living his/her life except me. I’m just sitting in a road watching life goes on. My desires drive me this is a reality. I want to lose weight but whenever i want to do a diet and exercising i just eat like a cow. Also when i want to study harder i just procrastinate and say to myself tomorrow will be my day. I don’t control my life the way i really want. What really kills me is that i have the power to start anything i want to realize but i lose passion and ability to continiue. These are the things that control and manipulate my whole life.
My work (Graphic Designing) and Music drives me a lot in life.
Designing is my passion and I love it. Whenever I finish a project and that get approved on the same day….it drives me like crazy. :) Because I always give my 100% to my work….The taste of success is always sweet…..thats why when I start any project, I conenctrate on it with Mind, Body and Soul and get successful in the end. I get addicted to achieve success. I can say being successful in anything in life charge me up for the next challenge. :)
Music also motivates me. I listen Classical Music and Meaningful Inspirational Songs and charge up myself with soft music. Music heals….Music inspires…..Music can change a lot in anyone’s life….at least I can say that Music plays an important role in my routine life. It helps me forget and forgive….it helps me to soothe myself whenever needed. After a short session of listening soft (classical) music I again feel charged up and ready to conquer the world. :)
Hmmm, what drives me? I think there are some things that I can think of:
– Feeling of adventure, unplanned trips… you know, when the tickets are bought just couple of hours before the trip or going somewhere to meet with all your friends from different countries and know that you’ll have lots of fun there! I just love it! I call it healthy adrenaline :-P
– Definitely positive people full of energy like me. Meeting such people is always very exciting, because you know that these people are also open to the world, challenges, interesting experiences and of cause they know how to enjoy the present moment !
– Dancing, especially when we are creating a new show! It is an amazing feeling; it is a challenge, an adrenaline, fun and sport. But only if other people who are doing it with me see it as fun and do not take this too serious!
– I also want to mention SUN! I love sun and I love the colors that sun brings to the world! I can’t walk during a sunny weather and not smile. It is just impossible, no matter what! You walk on the streets/parks/alleys with a smile on your face and the people passing buy smile to you in return =)) Isn’t it a great feeling?! I get the feeling that the whole world is smiling to me =))))
– When I am in love…… Uh, I have a feeling that whenever I am going million of butterflies and birds surround me and a beautiful music is playing from my heart! In these moments I have energy for so many things and I never get tired:-P
Many other things can drive me as well, but these are the ones that came to my mind straight away=)))
Things to discover, places to see.
oh I hate this question!
the answer always seems to keep changing for me so I never feel like I can get a good grasp on it. For the longest time it seemed I was driven by fantasy. I would watch a movie and become super motivated to become a fighter pilot or a rescue swimmer. I wanted to be the hero and thats what motivated me. then it became pushing my physical and mental limits. I would get extremely motivated to try and get stronger, faster, more courageous. I wanted nothing more then to impress myself or others by my abilities and feats. but then that wasn’t enough, lately it seemed to be a drive to find love. i wanted it and nothing was going to stop me. but of course it takes two to tango and after many consecutive heart breaks the drive was diminished. now it seems personal growth! which is why i’m here. mainly mental and emotional growth but i never want to forget about my physical being. I’m taking dance classes, watching comedies trying to improve my sense of humor, buying new cloths trying to develop a sense of style, learning how to sing along to my guitar and getting back in shape with the intent on going back to school to exercise my brain and obtain a speciality/identity.
Another almost separate and continuous drive would be the drives of others. I am extremely easy going and don’t really have too many preferences, which I hate and love at the same time, but as soon as someone else dose have a preference i am extremely driven to make that happen as long as it doesn’t conflict with the few preferences I do have. because to me i could spend all the time in the world doing just what i wanted and enjoyed but if there was no one next to me enjoying it with me it would all be pointless. so rather then do what i want i would get more pleasure and enjoyment out of doing what the other person wanted because at least they would then be on the same page:)
What drives me?
I it might be fear and pain a lot of the time. I find myself most often moving away from the things that I dislike rather than toward the things I want. If what Celes said in an earlier post is true I guess that means I operate at a fairly low level of consciousness a this point in my life.
Even when I do recognize something that I really want and desire, something that excites me, the thing that most often holds me back is fear of the unknown. Not knowing exactly how things may turn out makes me paralized with fear so I make little progress in some areas.
How to a raise my consciousness thought so that I am driven by something more empowering like love or joy? I’m not sure if more meditating or journaling is going to do it. Maybe by more actively seeking out people who are of a higher consciousness and connectng them is what wll help.
Hey Matt! Check out the article on 15 Ways To Raise Your Consciousness in your copy of Personal Excellence Book, Volume 1. It’s an exclusive for PEBook and have very practical tips on how to raise one’s consciousness.
Hey Celes. I completely forgot about that article. I’ll read it tonight. Thanks.
While it is not always the best driver, competition drives me. I have always loved striving for the top — amongst my peers as well as against myself. Lately, that has become more important to me: beating myself. Constantly improving. Increasing my strengths and skills. Developing my abilities. While my passions and interests constantly evolve and change, this desire to push to be better remains.
I’m also a collector, not so much of things, but of knowledge and experience. I love to learn and read, which is evident in my to-read book list, the piles of magazines around the house and my Google Reader. I am constantly reading and absorbing new information. I also enjoy traveling and exploring new parts of my community. I am an avid Yelper and love trying new businesses and posting reviews. I challenge myself at work to learn new parts of the business and get involved in different projects.
All of this goes into transforming myself into the best version possible, which I think is one of the reasons we are here. As Celes wrote, in reflection of the self-love posts, we are all on a journey to become better, and that journey has no end. It is the journey that matters — what pushes us and the choices we make.
Traveling makes me happy, being with my friend, I do anything to be with them. Kids as well bring out the best of me, I love them. And my dreams, my aims in life are very important, and I’ll do anything for them even thought I have very hard to find the paths that will direct me into making the true. So I have lots of fights in head of me. Lets fight, it’s the fight of my dreams, the fight of my life. :)
What drives me? A few things:
– LOVE: love for myself, for my husband , my kids, mother , friends. And also feeling loved by them. Knowing people care for me.
– Learning and growing. I am keen to learn and have a great time when I am learning or researching any topic – whether work or personal. It also leads to my love of travelling and discovery of new places.
– A sense of achievement: setting goals and achieving them, planning, organising
– Feeling like I’ve contributed to something or made a difference , whether at work or in my personal life
These are directly related to my values. These elements also come back several times, e.g. in Character or Strengths tests, and other questionnaires.
Hi Ish….you are highly motivated in nearly all spheres of your life. Keep up the spirit. :)
I am driven by desire to experience life, to do things, to serve people, to improve lives and to learn. I am looking for something-I am looking for the meaning or definition of being human. I am driven by passion and gratitude. Wow, that’s a lot.
Before i talk about what exactly drives me, i just want to look at a few factors that drive or motivate people to perform whatever it is that they do. It is a feeling of loosing something, and you may call this fear too, that drives most people to do stuff. The fear of loosing ones job will drive them to go to work day in day out even when one does not feel like waking up that day. This is because the consquence
of not having a job is frightening. You wonder how you going to be able to take care of your family, not being able to pay all your bills or even your rent or mortgage. That unpleasant feeling will get you to do the a job even when you detest it. Some people get motivated by the feeling they get from impressing others. They go on to do and achieve success to satisfy there ego. These people will accumulate all fancy and flashy stuff or material things just to impress others and unfortunately their agenda, most of the time is ”what is in it for me”,in other words that element of greed could never allow them to know when enough is enough. Recognition is there thing most of the time.
Then there other people that get motivated, purely by the warmth feeling they get when they help others get what they want out of life. Just to see another humankind breathing easily because they did something to help, will motivate them to keep helping even more needy people. The love they have towards other people plus the feeling they get when they assist others is what drives them. You find these people seeking knowledge from all credible sources to better themselves so that they can be able to teach others also to be better than they are. I am glad to tell you now that i do fall into this category. To me the love i have towards others and the feeling i get by helping others succeed, is what drives me to even work hard on myself to be the best i can be so that i can be able to give back.
What drives you in life? What do you live for? What are the times when you feel charged up and ready to take on the world? And why?
I think people’s motivations change as they get older and/or grow in consciousness. A person’s priorities change as his or her life circumstances change. As I am still relatively young and not yet in my career, I consider my primary motivation in life to find my purpose. I know that my life purpose will encompass something to add value to people’s lives either individually or collectively. I excel at a few things, and will undoubtedly excel at anything I decide to do. I just haven’t figured out how, or the best, most efficient way, I am going to fulfill my purpose. So, still in the planning stages.
I want to say challenges when I feel challenged to be better me and do better things ( levelling up).
This is one of the more obtuse of my answers …
What drives me?
There isn’t any one thing that drives me. There also isn’t any reason why a certain thing drives me. They are like sigils and symbols, the best of which are totally indirect and least meaningful.
Examples?
A bunch of totally unrelated things like the English opening in Chess, Lambda calculus and system programming. I get motivated by just calling them to mind. Just so. I can make a list of them but I can’t explain why they work the way they do. They feel like sunrise or like stories …
A story about stories
In the past I used to think often that life is worthless. I would stay thus until I came across a story (in a film or a book). Some stories are very powerful and anthem-like – and we find enough of such when we need them. Stories don’t imply anything any more than life implies anything. So when you lose direction in life, go find your story. Religion is also a manner of story.
I have thought this through for a good hour after reading the question. I guess what drives me the most is the need to live my life without regret. When my life comes to an end, I want to be able to look back and feel that I have lived my life the best way possible, that I have realized my full potential, that I have developed my self consistently towards the ideal self that I aspire, that my life have been meaningful to others.
Because of that, I want to pursue my passion in social business, because in doing that I feel happy, excited, and full of energy. I want to love what I’m doing and do what I love. I want to do something with my life that will benefit others in need and hopefully will make the world a better place.
Because of that, I became an avid learner. I love to listen and learned. I love to challenge and develop my self, both personally and professionally, which is the reason why I participate in this challenge and meet all of you, fantastic and positive individuals.
Because of that, I want to become a good person in every role in my life, as a daughter, a professional, a sister, a Moslem, a friend, a colleague.
And also because of that, I struggle to find where meaning lies for me, to focus my efforts on the things that matters like love, family, contribution, self development, and humanity among others.
Knowing that I’ll die one day. So much to experience and learn and share.
A really good laugh.
An intense curiosity and excitement about the world.
A sense of awe and wonder.
My dear friends and family.
Sometimes a sense of outrage.
Inspirational people like Bishop Desmond Tutu, Grayson Perry, Miranda July, my children.
Gratitude (ie when I see a shooting star, a full moon, trees in their beautiful autumn colours, new-born lambs) for example.
Appreciation for being alive.
Sex.
Inner journeying and tarot work.
Wanting to tread lightly in the world and also work towards the alleviation of suffering – my own and others.
Witnessing and practising friendship and love.
For me is my catch phrase…to ignite a fire within others. My passion and driving force is to help others be the best they can be.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of what drives me is based in fear. I fear dying without having left my mark on the world, I fear meaninglessness, I fear uncertainty,
Some of this drives me to achieve, but it’s almost like there’s an opposite pull that keeps me from doing the best I can.
I’ve turned a few things into positives lately. I’ve figured out that my purpose it to help others form greater understanding about their relationships with others, and that is pretty motivating.
I think I’m just in a bad place right now. Reading over my entries for the past few days, I was shocked at how negative I am. If I read my personal journal entries, it’s even worse. I’ve always thought of myself as a positive person, but now I really have to question that. It might be one of those delusional things: I WANT to be a positive person, so that’s how I see myself, even if it isn’t true. Or maybe I’m just more up-and-down than I’d like to admit, and I’m in a down phase right now.
Ugh. Well, I guess all of this journalling is serving it’s purpose in that it’s forcing me to face up to some things. Not exactly fun, but necessary.
Dear Christina i sincerely know that kind of feeling as i myself have been down that road. One thing for sure is that, yes you can go on and achieve but the unfortunate thing is that whenever you achieve anything out of fear, you tend to spend the rest of your time very fearful of loosing it. How about achieving out of love to help other people achieve too? Just imagine if you assisted a father to be strong and go for whatever they desired to a point of him making that extra dollar to be able to buy his kids that toy they been longing for, for long time. Those little giggles from the kids voices
so happy to have that new toy and the twinkle in their father’s eyes ,believe me,will get you to crave to help even more families.
You are right, of course, and there is nothing more rewarding than helping others. It’s what I want to do, but right now, I guess I’m questioning my motives a bit. I want to be sure I do things for the right reasons, not just because I think I should, or because it plays into those fears I listed.
Thank you for your response!
What drives me? The car does! But I don’t live in soviet Russia :mrgreen:
Seriously though, what drives me is my purpose in life. And my purpose in life is to always try and be a better believer in God which encompasses being a better daughter, a better neighbour, a better friend and so many other things which in turn causes happiness in my life.
What drives me??
– anything that gives me a feeling of purpose (being needed, being helpful, creating something that makes someone happy or that they need)
– the need to feel like I have contributed or been productive in some way, I hate wasted time or feeling I have accomplished nothing…
– the positive energy in others…when those around me are happy and ambitious and energetic, they fuel my body and soul like a battery and I feel healthier and have more strength even on a bad day.
– making others happy or more comfortable, facilitating their needs before they even knew they needed it! It’s the hospitality industry mentality in me ;)
– doing what I’ve said I will by the time I’ve said I would. (Sometimes a drive that can cause me to really run myself into the ground since I also have a problem saying no and setting limits. hehe)
– the expectations of my family or “others” in general (I don’t like to admit this one but I still let perceived or real expectations of others often determine whether or not I do something and also effect the choices I make)
What do I live for??
– Learning, growing, knowledge and new experiences…seeing life from someone elses perspective or way of life
– My family, my friends and the times when we can get together to share and laugh and you can tangibly feel the love in the room :heart:
Goals to aim for.
I was quite disheartened at the start of this year, as things didn’t go quite to plan – and let myself get stuck in a bit of a rut. But then I forced myself to focus and think of a plan, something to aim for, so I can feel inspired to move forward again! So now my plans for the start of 2012 are a TEFL course overseas in January, and then some travelling around Europe whilst I figure out the next step. These are two things that I really, really want to do – and it’s quite liberating that this plan has only been formed down to me and my own decisions. This in turn gives me the drive I need at the moment. For example, just with silly things like my work at the moment; I might not enjoy it, and it might not be ideal, but I still get up and go – because I know I am lucky to have this job, and it’s giving me the finances and freedom to achieve next year’s plans.
On the occasions when I feel a bit stressed about it all (the good old “what on earth am I doing? Is this the right decision?” spur of the moment panics!) and feel uninspired to carry on, then I turn to my family. They’ve always been so supportive of me, and somehow know just what to say to make sure I keep going.
Likewise, I also like looking at travel websites and blogs; seeing people living what I want to do in person, and reading about all their adventures, really gives me the urge to jump out of my seat and just go, right now! …or at least, keep going with my preparations until I can get on the plane next year. I am addicted to the Lonely Planet website!
Commenting for this post is closed.