Motivation Monday - Staying Motivated

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I've been thinking a lot about motivation the past couple of weeks. As I lost motivation in my weight loss journey, I also lost motivation in other areas of my life. Work, the blog, home, hobbies... everything became a chore. It's not a pleasant way to live: going through the motions day in and day out. 
Determined to pull myself out of this "funk", I started the Fit 4 Christmas Challenge and slowly, but surely, my enthusiasm is returning. However, it hasn't come without it's struggles or been overly easy. My mind is determined to be lazy, but my heart is doing it's best to fight it. 
Thursday was one of those days. Everything went wrong from the time I rolled out of bed. I was exhausted, stressed, irritated and all around ornery. Before I got off work, I had  decided to bake cookies for dinner and sit on the couch for the entire evening. So healthy, Tiffany. The second our coats were hung up, I was making the cookies and pre-heating the oven.
Right as I sat down to consume a ridiculous amount of calories, I got a notification on my phone. My #irun4 buddy, Dakota had sent me a picture of himself along with a simple message:

Hi Ms.Tiffany,
I had a good day today. I had a good week. This weekend I am going to camp. We will fish. We will play games. We will eat lots of good food and have a talent show. I am going with my special friends. I like to sing songs at camp. Have a good weekend.

 — with Tiffany Hultgren.

I've mentioned Dakota a time or two before, but a quick recap: Dakota is 17 and has cerebral palsy. He rolls to get where he needs to go, so is unable to run for himself. Physical activity, in general, is limited for him. So I run and workout for Dakota.
This simple message, from a boy I've never met but love dearly, brought tears to my eyes. Dakota has daily challenges that I can't even begin to comprehend, yet he is always smiling and encouraging. How can I sit here, stuffing my face with cookies, and feel bad for myself? 
I put the cookies away and got a 40 minute workout in for Dakota that night. 

I started this journey for a host of reasons, but mainly for my son and to do my part to improve my health. 

I have an incurable autoimmune disease. But, I decided to stop letting that define me. Doctor's may not be able to do much to help the pain, but maybe I can. Doctor's may not be able to do much to prevent the constant illnesses, but maybe I can. 

And by taking better care of myself, maybe that will make me a better mother. 

That was my thinking last spring. I had my doubts, but knew there was nothing to lose. I jumped in with both feet. I've learned a lot along the way; with so much more yet to learn.

 Living a healthier life and dropping some pounds hasn't fixed everything in my life. I still get sick, often. However, believe it or not, it's better than it was a year ago. There are still days where I feel like I'm a failure as a mother, but I believe we all have days like that. But, I do know that I am a much more present and active mom. We play hours of tag, wrestling, soccer and baseball. These are things that were few and far between 25+ pounds ago. 

Sometimes we get so caught up looking at the end goal, that we forget to look at how far we've actually come. Sometimes we forget why we started in the first place. Don't forget to take a minute from time to time to sit back and reflect. When you feel like giving up, remember why you started.

Even if I wanted to forget why I started, I know that Wyatt and my buddy Dakota would never let that happen. I am on this journey, not only for myself, but for them. When I want to give up, they will keep me going.