MOTIVATIONI find that motivating myself is one of the hardest things for me to do. It is so easy for me to tell someone else to do something. I can even keep track and confirm that they are following through with whatever it is they started. This does not mean I do not self motivate; it just means it is a challenge for me. The best way I find I can motivate myself is to set goals both large and small. Along the way I do things like post to my Blog because my goal is to share my adventures with friends. Without my goals I would be content to just sit in bed and do nothing all day long.

Perhaps because I struggle so much with motivating myself to do, anything, I am intolerant with apathy. I think if I have gone to this much trouble to get my lazy but up and ready to do some stuff, then darn it the least the people around me can do it jump on board for some adventures. It is so easy to join someone else in an activity that is all ready to explode. This was one of the reasons my group in the unnamed city frustrated me so much. I was there to motivate and encourage and they just did not want to do anything. At times I was surprised they found the motivation to even breathe.

New Years day I was talking to a friend here in Russia and I asked what her life’s goals were. She had only one, to graduate from the university. This for me was a moment of epiphany, without goals then of course there will be little or no motivation to do anything. I have read several books on goal setting and worked diligently to improve my ability to set and follow through with my goals in life, but I have always had dreams and aspirations to motivate me to go beyond what I was currently doing. Heather told me to learn to accept this as it is just a cultural difference. Without goals, without constantly expanding your abilities and skills, without dreaming, you will never grow. Instead you become a mass of unrealized potential. Every person is capable of doing so many wonderful things in their life time and while I can accept cultural differences, I will not accept seeing a friend, choose to not live up to their enormous potential. At times it feels like I am beating my head against a solid brick wall, but it is worth it because with enough effort eventually the wall will crumble and a world of limitless opportunities will be revealed to my friend. I can only hope that my head is solid enough for the task. Perhaps I will include the task of goal setting in my workshops from now on to motivate them to action.On New Year’s Day we all slept for the greater part of the day. Remember, I did not get to bed until 8 AM. It was about 5PM by the time I was awake and ready to leave the house. It was a nice leisurely process. We had all agreed to go skating today so I headed out in the correct direction while keeping in contact with my cohorts through SMS. I arrived at the skating place and they were still meandering around the city doing, well I have no idea what they were doing, but whatever it was, was keeping them from being at the skating park. As I was standing in line at the Kacca (ticket booth) I saw several Deaf people in line in front of me.

This trip I have seen more deaf people in Moscow then I thought possible. It seems every time I turn around there is another group of deaf Russians to talk to. I started up a conversation with them using a mixture of Russian sign language and gestures. They explained the complex ticket process to me and how to rent skates as well. They then invited me to join them around the park. I accepted of course. I told them I would meet up with them as soon as my friends arrived.

After texting back and forth with Heather and the others, I gave up hope on them and decided to take advantage of the opportunity that was right in front of me. I am not sure what the big delay was with the rest of my group, but at the moment it was not my problem and I had no control over it. I met up with my new deaf friends, and we rented skates and headed out on the ice. It was an awesome time and I have a few pictures here of them. Eventually Heather and the rest of the gang arrived. I bid farewell to my new friends and rejoined my old ones.

I was very excited to see them. One, I had not seen Heather for any period of time since her solo adventures and I wanted details. Second, to my surprise Ilya and Lala were there as well. These are two of my friends from Russia that I had not seen yet. I am not going to lie, many hugs were exchanged in public and several people smiled. I just hope no one else saw how much fun we were having out in the open. After a few hours of skating we parted ways and headed to our respective homes.

Again it was another marvelous day with friends and family. Have you figured out the secret ingredient to have a good time yet? Remember, it is the one thing I always remember to bring with me and I keep it on me, almost at all times.

Best to all,

Dana