A very relatable, candid account, thank you! You're a good storyteller, also highlighting the little things that, though seemingly insignificant, can have a big effect on one's motivation to start doing something.
My motivation is my general interest in languages, and for Chinese, in how Chinese sentences are constructed. I also met some Chinese students in a locker room a long time ago, whose way of speaking Mandarin to each other in such an excited manner piqued my interest. I think that Chinese, with its vowels and tones, can also sound very beautiful, whether it's in the spoken language or in songs. There's the huge vocabulary of Mandarin, and the possibility of expressing oneself very precisely and succinctly with it. I also decided that I liked the "vibrations" that come with listening to Chinese—I can't put it in another way right now.