The Greatest Motivation- Love

I believe love is the greatest motivation.  

My grandson William came to visit us this week. I sure do love that boy and he loves to ride bikes almost as much as his grandpa. Of course he brought his bike with him so I asked him if he wanted to go try out the trails at a bike park in town.

He is 8 and the bike he rides is not a mountain bike so I explained it might not ride too well on the dirt trails but he could try and see. Oh yeah, he was all over that. He flew around the first turn and didn’t quite have the momentum to make it up the hill and fell. Almost before he hit the ground he turned back to me and yelled “I’m ok grandpa, it's ok.”

He quickly got the hang of it and zoomed around the trails. It was so much fun. The next morning we went back and rode some more, he couldn’t get enough. I can’t wait to get his cousins to come ride the trails with us. This week I am taking William and his cousins on a 20 mile or so bike ride on a beautiful paved trail. It is grandpa's end of the summer bike extravaganza with grandkids from age 7-18 years old. 

I am so grateful that at age 67 I can plan these rides without worrying or even thinking about being able to safely ride my bike for hours on end with these energetic youngsters. I attribute that to a few of the Health Continuum strands: genetics, physical activity and physical consumption.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I have no desire to ride, lift, hike, swim or whatever I am scheduled to do. It is a battle and I need something to get me out of bed, some serious motivation. I just have to think of that big smile on Williams face, I love that smile and I love riding bikes with him. So I get up and do the work needed to make that possible right now and for the next 20 years. For a more detailed discussion on motivation see chapter 3 in my book.

What love motivates you? I would like to know, send me a note.