Catalyst

What is your catalyst for action?  What is the thing that gets you moving toward your goals?

Mine is my family.  My husband and my sons shake me out of paralysis and into the future.  When I want to sit on the couch all day, they remind me that it's not possible or healthy to do that.

I keep going back to my wakeup call.  The four of us were at Lego Land.  It was a beautiful day in sunny Florida.  We were all enjoying ourselves.  I tried to take my older son on a roller coaster, but the seat harness wouldn't fit over my belly.  

That was awful.  I didn't show them how sad and embarrassed I was.  I just let my son ride without me and then listened when he told me how amazing it was.  I didn't feel amazing.  I felt huge, fat and generally horrible.

That was all I needed to start focusing on a better, healthier version of myself.  I wanted to ride with him.  I wanted to feel like I was flying and watch his face as it lit up with thrill and excitement.  It was like a light had been switched on in my brain.  I started watching what I ate, doing yoga on the beach and trying to get my body back to a reasonable weight.  Soren, my older son, was the catalyst.  

Soren is often my catalyst.  He has been that for eight years.  When I found out that I was pregnant, I immediately stopped drinking alcohol, quit smoking and started eating only healthy food.  I lost weight during my first trimester, because I was eating better, walking more and generally taking care of my body.  I wanted to give him the best chance for a healthy life.  I knew that he got everything from me.  If he was going to be healthy, I had to be healthy, too.

The same is true today.  If I want to raise healthy boys, I need to be healthy, too.  If I want them to be active and make good food choices, I have to lead by example.  It's not fair for me to tell them that they can't have potato chips and cookies, if I'm eating them myself.  It's not fair for me to tell them to go outside and play, while I sit on the couch.  It's hypocritical.

I'm no hypocrite.  I have integrity.  I can even be the catalyst, now.  I am the catalyst for my own writing, music and even theater.  I am the catalyst for homeschooling.  I set the example and then watch my boys take off.  That's the goal.  They will then learn to be their own catalysts.  

When they are grown and on their own, they will know how to motivate themselves to achieve their goals.  That is my hope for the future.