What inspires you? It's a question I dove into last week in one of my blogs and put my friends and family to the test with trying to answer the question. As I predicted, it just isn't a simple cut and dry answer. The question was posed after I read a story about a beautiful young girl who was overcoming huge obstacles to keep her life on a positive course. My answer of course was multi-faceted, because this crazy life of mine is exactly that. Love and hate, smiles and tears through everything I find something inspiring every day, and I think that is how it should be.
So, in coming up with this follow up article, I asked several friends and family members the question, "What inspires You?" The majority of the responses were child to parent related. One friend said, "My son and his innocence." Another stated that her mother inspired her to keep going, while her son inspired her to never give up. The overwhelming amount of responses that were family related actually inspired me. I wonder if these family members know exactly how much they mean to each other. Do they each take time every day - even on the bad ones to let each other know how they feel? Even if the conversation can be heavy or awkward, it should not be. A simple "I'm proud of you" goes a long way.
The other responses were varied, and yet extremely interesting. "I am inspired by helping people. I've been helped and guided so much throughout my lifetime; I am truly inspired when I can do the same." "Selfless acts, beauty, courage and originality". I asked the same question from a different angle to my friend Drew Cooper, a musician that simply won't quit no matter what the obstacles and hurdles are. The question was "What inspires your drive." His response, "I don't know, it's almost instinctual. This is all I've ever wanted to do. This is how my brain operates, I just expect a lot of myself and I know it's there." His response of course was an inspiration to me in that moment to sit down and keep writing - it's just something that's in me as well.
The conclusion after all of this diving deep to find out if people can actually answer the question when asked, is that I have some VERY inspiring people surrounding me who probably don't even know that their own little sayings and nuances inspire me every day. The way a person looks at me, a silly cross eyed smile from my Hope, a surprise visit from my Reason. The selflessness of my friends, the beauty in how much each and every one of them gives back and how pure their love is.
I will be the first to admit I had no idea what a big question it is to answer and how hard of a time even I had pinpointing an answer. I think I have realized that IS the answer. To help my heart smile, to keep my sanity, I look for inspiration everywhere I go. I see it in the beautiful sunsets as pictured below, I see it when I look into people's eyes. I see it in the tears that streamed down my friend's face while attending a funeral, and I hear it in these answers. Inspiration is always all around us. All we have to do is take the time to peel away the blinders and really look at the world around; really listen and pay attention when people are speaking. Listen for their answers and hear opposed to listening only to formulate your appropriate response. Take the time to see the inspiration around you. Take the time to make you happy in your own skin, and happy with your own life, regardless of the circumstances. 