Motivation. What
motivates you to go do the things you love?
I know that this morning, the first day of the year, I woke up
completely unmotivated. I spent the last
day of 2013 horseback. I hauled my horse
out to a friend’s house and we rode around the ranch for a while. I’m not going to say it was my greatest day
of riding…at one point I had thrown my rope on the ground and my horse, who can
be a bit spooky, whirled out from underneath of me and I damn near took a dirt
nap. But somehow, I spider-monkeyed up
and stayed aboard. I have to admit, I
was slightly embarrassed. Here’s this
horse that I intend on hauling to Reno in six months and I can’t even throw my
rope on the ground without him blowing up.
I chalk it up to him being fresh.
The cold, hard truth is that he needs to be ridden and ridden hard every
day and he needs to be good and warmed up before I try to teach him
anything.
After getting mad and floating his teeth for a while, I
finally got him where I wanted him to be.
I’m not saying it was the right way of doing things, but let’s face it,
sometimes it gets the job done. This
horse isn’t a colt. He is eleven years
old and he knows better than to act like that.
So, what should have been the end of his day, turned out to be just the
beginning. I do not reward bad behavior
with my animals…be they horses, dogs, or boyfriends! The rest of the day went well. I hauled my horse home and we logged the sled
for a while. It’s an exercise that he’s
never fond of at first, but once he realizes that the sled isn’t going to come
up the rope and hook him, he takes to it really well. I have a four wheeler to pull the sled, but
it isn’t running and even if it were, there is rarely anyone around to pull it
for me. So, most of the time I just work
on a series of logging exercises.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, logging
is when you dally up to something and drag it around. It could be a railroad
tie, the roping sled, or anything that will slide across the ground fairly easy
and won’t hang up. It not only builds
your horses strength, but it gives them confidence and helps them to be more
comfortable pulling something around behind them. A lot of people think that this is just an
exercise to use on colts, but I have found that it works great on older,
finished horses as well. It is a great
tool for teaching a horse pull well while moving off of your feet. You can teach them to quarter out and really
get a horse facing well. I am a firm
believer that if you do these kinds of exercises on your horse (even your good
ones) regularly, it keeps their minds sound and their bodies in great
shape. Plus, it is an easy way to work
on your horse if you don’t have an arena, cattle, or someone to drive the gosh darned
sled!
All in all, yesterday was productive. But as I said earlier, today I started out
completely unmotivated. Last night,
after ringing in the New Year completely sober (sorry, not sorry) and driving
my roommate home, I decided to see how everyone else’s New Year’s was treating
them by trolling around on Facebook. The
first story I see is that my most recent ex is now engaged. Every ounce of my being knows that he and I
were no good for each other. Despite the
fact that we got along pretty well and the greatest thing we had in common was
that we both LOVED to rope, there were a lot of issues between us. The biggest issue being that I was not ready
and, in my heart of hearts, I know that he wasn’t either. Sometimes two people can love each other
completely, but still be totally wrong together. That doesn’t mean that news of his new
engagement wasn’t completely shocking and didn’t sting a little. You devote everything you have to try to make
things work with someone only to discover that you weren’t the one. But that is a poor girl’s way of
thinking. He wasn’t the one either. It’s a tough pill to swallow. I don’t believe that anything is a waste of
time, but sometimes I have a hard time shaking that feeling that I may never
find that partner in crime that I long for.
I did the right thing…I congratulated him and wished him the best in his
future, slapped on a happy face, and told myself to move on.
I had to really think and pray on things last night. Waking up this morning, I am reminded about
the goals that I had set for myself in 2014.
Finding a man was not one of them!
And pining over an ex that I know isn’t right for me isn’t one of them
either! Bettering myself in my passion
(roping) is my goal for this year! If
love finds me, then I will welcome it with open arms…but I am not seeking it
and I will not let my fear of being alone consume me any longer. This year has been extremely tough for
me. I moved thousands of miles away from
home only to realize that I didn’t fit in like I thought I would. All year long, I have felt like an outsider,
someone who was completely alone in a crowd.
I have finally realized that it is because something is missing in my
life…MY PASSION! Once I surround myself
with a group of my roping peers, I will most likely no longer feel alone or out
of place! I don’t rope just because it’s
cool or I look like a bad ass doing it…I rope because I love it and it’s the
one thing that I have always had in my life that has kept me grounded. It is a place where I fit in and when I am
roping, I don’t feel alone.
So I ask again, what is it that motivates you? I know that I don’t have just one answer to
that question. There are a million
things that motivate me! Achieving the
goals that I have set for myself is motivation.
Fitting in somewhere and making new friends is motivation. Bettering myself at something that I love is
motivation. Inspiring others to set and reach their goals is motivation. And coming just a little bit farther in life
than I was yesterday is motivation. So,
this year, find what motivates you and go for it! Don’t let struggles and challenges stand in
your way! Remember that if it were EASY,
everyone would do it! The only thing
that can hold you back from achieving your goals is YOU!
Happy New Year’s everyone!
I wish you a prosperous and BLESSED year!
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