THE NEWS

The news does its job. Informing us with current events, weather, sports highlights, politics, successes and strange happenings. But it also informs us of death, destruction, threats and the like. This along with the personal devastation, disruptions, and traumas in our own life, leaves us devastated. They are enough to pull us down in hope, have us filled with anxiety or furthermore, depleted with unexplained sadness and depression. How do we stay motivated through the madness?

OUR DREAMS

Our spirits are being surrounded by emotional stress from all places, have you noticed? This can happen 24 hours a day if we let it. Matter of fact, even in our sleep. I remember waking up from a dream once that was so intense, tears questionably filled my eyes and I couldn’t even understand why. You see sometimes, we can awake from even our dreams and find that our whole mood and outlook for that morning changed from the night before. Talk about waking up on the wrong side of sleep.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Matthew 6:22, 23 NIV- The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Our eyes are absorbed in social media. This is where we now see the whole world, through a handheld screen. Except now, we can know too much, too often, without even asking. It forces itself in front of us through notifications, uncontrollable ads, and messages. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and several news apps will show us the good, bad and ugly. Not to mention, the need we feel to keep up with all that is happening, is with no doubt, addictive. As long as we have access, it will seem like the world and our society is at its worse and make you want to limit leaving your home. By all means, stay informed, but also choose healthy, positive content to keep your motivation afloat and prevent your light within from dimming.

We have to take control of what we see and hear on all screens, and even more so, how often. 

 

OUR FOCUS

Life happens around us constantly. It’s hard going from the shock of what we read to staying focused on our purpose while we still can. But wait, we have to stay focused! Besides, we have goals to meet, places to attend, and people who are depending on us. That means there is some reason for being. If we can’t find a reason in ourselves, then we dig to find our motivation for the good of someone else. We have to shake it off, the feeling of despair, mourning, and fear to re-focus. Remember, we have a mark to make for God’s kingdom.

Here are the questions we need to ask and remind ourselves-

What Are My Goals Anyway?

Proverbs 29:18 KJV- Where there is no vision the people perish…

If we don’t know our own goals, we may wonder and browse through everyone else’s story, swiping left or right, when we belong in our own. It’s too easy to let go of our plans when we’re down, leaving our emotional rise in the hands of those who are already succeeding. WE HAVE TO WRITE IT DOWN. (Our goals). I’m late with this, but I’m finally learning. This is the way you have some sort of map or direction to walk to. We always need a reason when we work toward our vision.

Am I Protecting My Heart From The Weight of The World’s Chaos?

Proverbs 4:23 NIV- Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

This is heavy. We can’t control every burden in the world today. It will always be present. WE CAN MOST CERTAINLY PRAY. There is something we all have to face called reality. It can be the best thing we’ve ever faced and the worse. It’s a tough thing to grasp, but our ability to cope can be placed in what we can do with WHAT LIES AHEAD. We can get caught up in the pain from media daily, so we have to be selective with the content we allow ourselves to read. Some content may be false, frustrating or leave us more confused, where we may question ourselves with a series of why’s or even question our walk. This wouldn’t be helpful in our focus towards the path to our goals and our personal growth.

We have to protect our hearts and minds because they’re subject to images and replays in our psyche that hold us in a pattern. A pattern where we’ll have to re-climb our way out of devastation all over again. So we need to surround ourselves with the type of hope and motivation to bring us out and push us forward. Pick up a Bible, devotional or something inspirational to read. This will lighten the weight.

Could I Dwell A Little Less & Do A Little More?

Isaiah 41:10 NIV- So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand.

Devastation is dense and it can paralyze your willingness to do anything! It feels easier to just not move from being buried in our phones, dwell and even sleep…..for hours. But this is dangerous. When there’s something that’s thrown us off course or we’re grieving, yes, we have to allow some time to process everything safely within. But when we bury and hide while feeling troubled, we fall into a space where motivation is farther and farther out of reach. We should quickly pull ourselves out and away before you become too overwhelmed for motivation.

Instead, we can go for a walk and get some fresh air. We can reconnect with tangible people and our loved ones around us. Remember the work we have to do or a new project it’s time to jump into. When we’re numb from social media’s devastating stories, we have to feel present in our own lives in order to thrive again! Sometimes that means we’ll have to face the discomfort head-on, and this enables us to get past it. All is possible!

Turning Devastation into Motivation 

The truth is we will lack some motivation through devastation. However, we can also allow the devastation to propel us to go even harder, to be the motivation for the unmotivated, to see change being met, and to follow through with whatever God still has for us to accomplish. We have to KEEP MOVING! We must not allow the devastation from the media to pull us into living and staying in a life full of fear and despair, but rather pray for a troubled world and live in the confidence of Christ.

1 Peter 5:7 NIV– Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.