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Peace be with you.

Welcome to a new week!

Have you seen the social media meme that tells you to do more of the things that light you up? I liked it the first ten times I saw a version of it. After about a hundred, it starts to feel cliché, but it actually is wisdom. So, I want to dive a little deeper into that piece of advice.

There are two types of motivation: external and internal.

External motivation can include getting a paycheck, applause, a reward, or it can be something like peer pressure. There’s nothing inherently wrong with external motivation. We all need to get paid so we can take care of our basic needs, and it’s nice to be appreciated by others. But always striving for that external feedback can lead to exhaustion and burnout.

Internal motivation is quite different. It’s based on how we’re wired, and the motivators might be different for each of us. For example, I am a writer. Even if I never make a penny on my writing, I will still write. I’ve been writing poetry, stories, and essays since elementary school. It’s a part of my personality.

Writing is an expression of my inner thoughts and my imagination. Being creative with it lights me up! If it lights you up, it may be your calling, and it’s definitely an internal motivator.

I spent all of Memorial Day working on my next novel, and at the end of the day, I was not exhausted. I was energized. I spent the day being authentically me, with no one watching and potentially no reward, and it was amazing.

If what you do for a living isn’t what lights you up, you need to find a hobby or avocation that does because that’s how you can stay energized in a world that is constantly draining us.

Whether it’s a sport, exercise, volunteering, public speaking, gardening, collecting, making music, underwater basket weaving… it doesn’t matter. As long as nobody gets hurt, if it lights you up, make the time to do it. Prioritize it. Even if it’s just one day a month, make it an appointment on your calendar and do it.

Or, if you’ve got the luxury of free time more often, do it weekly, even daily.

That’s this week’s challenge: if you don’t already, prioritize the activity that internally motivates you, make an appointment with yourself to do it, and make it a regular part of your life. You’ll be amazed at how that little spark of light inside you grows when you feed it.

Go forth and light yourself up!

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