Intentionally Keeping Yourself and Your Kids Motivated and Encouraged
It’s interesting because in my younger days I never realized just how challenging life would be. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life and all the blessings that God has given me. But I didn’t understand how it would require so much work and dedication be successful in different areas of life Parenting brings about surprises and obstacles to overcome. One thing that has helped me repeatedly over the years is being intentional with motivating and encouraging myself and my family.
One quote that I love is by Zig Ziglar and it says, “People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well neither does bathing- that’s why we recommend it daily.” This is so true. Just like we have to make an effort to keep our bodies clean daily, the same is true with keeping our minds motivated. In the Bible, we can see that David encouraged himself in the Lord whenever he felt distressed. 1 Samuel 30:6 and the book of Psalms demonstrates this.
Staying motivated and encouraged is essential in life if we want to meet our goals, fulfill our purpose, and experience the joy of life in the process. It’s easy to be negative and to find something to complain about. It takes much effort to be positive and to fill our mind with good things. I am going to share some tips to help you with ways to encourage yourself. We are examples for our kids. So as we practice finding ways to be encouraged, we are teaching our kids as they watch our every move. They can learn ways to encourage themselves by watching us as their model.
Listening to positive music is my favorite way to stay encouraged. I have discovered so many talented music artists over the years that have helped me to feel better when I feel down or overwhelmed. My favorite is Christian hip hop and Christian pop music. I love hearing positive lyrics with a fun beat that will put me in a good mood. A lot of the current Christian artists are very good at motivating you to do your best and not give up when life gets difficult. I have made many playlists that I play for myself, my family, and guests that visit.
Reading positive books that are inspirational and promote self-improvement is beneficial. While reading, I underline parts that are helpful to me. Then after I finish reading the book, I write down the parts that I underlined into a notebook so I can quickly go back and read it when needed. And writing is so beneficial because it helps the information to better stick in your mind.
Bullet journaling is another good way to stay encouraged. I enjoy it because it’s different from your typical journaling because you have different categories in your journal. One category I have is positive quotes. I use colorful pens and write down positive quotes in my journal as well as positive lyrics. This really keeps me motivated and I often refer back to it for encouragement.
Finding an encouraging friend will also help you. I am very blessed to have a close friend who is there for me. We text each other often throughout the week. We pray for each other and support each other. We are intentional in making sure we set up time to get together for our “ladies lunch” and we also get together with our families. Having someone who is positive and supportive is so helpful in keeping yourself motivated. Just knowing that she is praying for me when I have a big event or something major occurring in my life brings me peace and happiness. David in the Bible, who I mentioned earlier, had a friend name Jonathan who was very encouraging and supportive of him. If you don’t have a friend like this, pray to the Lord to send one to you.
Spending time with the Lord and keeping Him first is the number one thing you can do to keep yourself encouraged. When I developed this habit, my life drastically changed for the better. As I made this a priority, everything else started to fall into place in my life. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of developing a personal relationship with Christ. The first step is receiving salvation The next step is talking to the Lord through prayer and studying the Bible. Doing this daily will improve your life.
Life is difficult and it’s inevitable that we will face challenges. But we can choose to stay positive and purposefully keep ourselves encouraged. Our children are watching us and we need to be examples so they will grow up knowing how to encourage themselves through the difficulties of life. I pray this blog post is an encouragement to you. You can find ideas to inspire you on the Parent Self-Care page. Remember God is always with you!