Who else thinks the week back to work after vacation is the WORST!? I sure do! Holy cow, I’m gonna need another vacation to recover from this week! It was busy, busy, busy. Everything I saved for when I got back snuck up on me fast and I probably shouldn’t have let myself go into vacation mode so early, but hey! I think I’m all caught up now, so that’s what matters. 🙂

Among all the chaos this week, we had the Lincoln 3rd graders come to LATC for a tour of six programs. It was insanity, but it was also a really great time. Nine year old’s are so funny! One of our stops was to the Law Enforcement program where – of course – my group of all 3rd grade boys just wanted to punch the dummies in there instead of learn about the program itself. However, there was one little boy who noticed a cabinet full of sticky notes and asked what it was.

It was a gratitude wall. The instructor said the first thing he has his students do is write down one or two things that are “their purpose.” What gets them out of the bed in the morning? Why do they do what they do? What is it all for? That way, if they are ever having a hard time or a bad day, they can go to the wall and remind themselves what they are doing it for.

I thought it was an awesome thing to do, and it really got me thinking about what I would put on the wall.

First of all, I would put my family on there – that includes Dan! Everything I do, I do because I want them to be proud of me. I work hard and do my best, because I know they wouldn’t expect anything less. I wasn’t raised to half-ass things, and I know if any of them found out that’s how I was going through life, they’d be very disappointed in me. My parents are some of the hardest working people I know. I may not be out there saving lives, but I believe the work I do is still important – just in different ways. At the end of the day, not only do I want to be proud of the fact that I put in the work and effort to get where I’m at, but I want my parents to be proud of me, too.

Someday, I hope to have my own family, and I want to have the means and capability to provide for them. I keep grinding through even the hardest days because when it’s my turn to have kids of my own, I can give them a good life and be PRESENT for it. Not to put the carriage in front of the horse, but I strongly believe Dan is the man I’m going to marry someday. I know firsthand how much he values hard work, and I want him to see me as someone who also shares that value so that we can pass it on to our kids someday.

And if I could put more than one thing on the wall, I’d also put “my haters” on there. I’ve lost track of how many times in my life I’ve been told I can’t do something. Whether it was something like, “you’ll never make it on your own out East.” Or “you’ll never be a published writer.” My first boss out of college even told me I was stupid and wouldn’t get very far in life. Well I’ve proved all of them wrong!! If someone tells me I can’t do something, you bet your booty I’m going to try even harder just to prove to them I can. Maybe I’ll just write that on a sticky note as a daily reminder anyway. When things get hard, I remember the ones who doubted me, and that motivates me to keep pushing.

I’m curious to know what motivates all of you! What is your purpose? What gets you out of bed in the morning? If you’d like to share, please comment or send me a message. It’s always fun to see what makes others tick. 🙂

And if you are in a particularly tough spot right now, maybe writing what your purpose is and putting it someplace where you can see it everyday is a small step you can take to boost that confidence. Write your goals even. Things that haven’t taken place yet, but you really want. Seeing that daily can help remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing and reignite that flame.

Keep working hard everybody! And just know that anything is possible if you put the work in and want it bad enough!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger