I have been thinking long and hard about motivation for the last year. I am fascinated by the idea of motivation and honestly don’t really understand what it is or how it works. Why do some people have more and others less? How is it that the most random influence can fuel an activity that seems against the odds of success? While I have endless questions on the nature of motivation, what really entertains me is to see myself act on my own motivation. What impels me and what creates barriers is unpredictable even to me.

In the last three weeks, Dipak has launched a project of such magnitude it is hard to understand. It is even harder to predict how it will impact the household. In these last few weeks when I have had running water, it has been only cold. My phone line (and therefore server) has been down on and off; the electricity functioning in only 1/2 the house; gas on and off; sewage lines broken, repaired, and broken again; no parking in the driveway; and all the furniture has been moved to the middle of rooms to shift weight to the center of the house.

Interestingly, I have had an exceedingly high tolerance for these inconveniences. The only thing that whipped me into a frothy mess of anger was when I found my garden hose buried beneath a pile of concrete. I had only two stipulations at the onset of this project. 1) Do not cut off my water source to the garden 2) Do not make my garden supplies inaccessible.

I’m thinking I was not thorough with my requests. I have had to crawl over piles of nail studded wood and other debris to reach my garden and animals. Yet, each morning, feed bucket in hand, I am determined to make it over the mountain of crap that was for some reason placed directly in my path to the garden. Even on the days with ten or so guys yielding jackhammers, bobcats and shovels, I am deeply motivated to look the other way and find a shred of sanity in the garden, Nesquick billboard and all.