It all begins with an idea. Being self-motivated to pursue your dreams is never an easy task to start or stay the course with. From personal experience, I have dreamed about my talents but never thought that they could come to fruition. I sat silently on the sidelines cheering on my family and friends as they pursued their dreams of entrepreneurship and kept saying to myself, “one day”.

That day happened in 2022 while finishing the first of a trilogy of books that I intend to publish, and while listening to a motivational speech it hit me to start my journey to bring my dream and vision to reality. But the question lingered and began to instill doubt and fear that I could do this, “where do I start, how do I start, when do I start”? I was sabotaging all the positive thoughts with negative thinking and that negativity caused me to step back numerous times. I’d asked for help and guidance in the direction of becoming a business owner and received minimal to none. However, being determined to live out my truest dream I began to research what I needed to do and the steps to get it done. I printed off “how to” guides and took my first step to pursuing my dream.

As I progressed through my different processes, I had numerous set backs. Those set backs forced me to write down the question listed above, “What Motivates You”? It didn’t take me long to answer this question, because the answer was fueled from a passion to help people. To help people tap into their potential, to remove negative mental roadblocks that hinder them from believing they can live their dreams and remove all of life’s “labels” affixed to them about who they should be, what they should have etc.

But before I could embark on my passionate journey to help other’s, I had to do the difficult work of helping the most important person who was struggling and tumbling through life, landing in and out of situations, and who had resorted to co-existing in life on auto pilot, devoid of human emotions. I had to start with me, so I turned the mirror around and challenged myself to do the very thing I challenged my clients to. As I looked in the mirror I took notice at; do I look AT myself, PAST myself, or THROUGH myself. My observation was that I looked PAST myself because I did not want to look into my vacant eyes and see the pain I was carrying inside these soulless windows. “What motivates you”? I asked myself this over a thousand times, and how can you motivate others when you cannot motivate you to GO through and GROW through your painful process and evolve into the person you desire to become. What motivates you? What motivated me were my children and my dog (my Queen). They were my What and Why, however it was all External. What motivates you? The internal was lacking, so I sat down and began to journal.

What motivates you? When you are tasked with taking an internal look at who you are (really are), it can be (at times) depressing. Why? Because often what motivates us is external and we operate from that premise so much we lose sight on what WE internally are motivated by. Unlocking the internal doors in my mental, emotional and spiritual house was a daunting task (yes I use a lot of metaphors, lol), but just as we declutter our physical space, we must also declutter our mental, emotional, and spiritual space. What motivates you?

It took me almost a year to be able to fully answer this question. Through the work I completed incorporating the two Cs I live by (coaching and counseling), I answered PART of the question. I still continue to ask myself this question everyday, and some days the answer is different. However, the core answer remains the same. What motivates you? - ME