Inspiration Junkie

I am unrepentant inspiration junkie.  I am playing the theme of Greatest American Hero on myiTunes right now.  “Believe it or not Iiiiiiiiii’m walking on air… ” (I always loved that show.  Just a normal guy who got a suit with some gifts he didn’t understand – he overcame his fear and made the most of it.  Awesome.)

I recently did a vision boarding class and today I hung vision boards with pictures of what I want and words like “Inspire” and “I dream of being a superhero” all over my house.

I have a blue box with hundreds of motivational quotes that I painstakingly wrote on index cards from the time I was in middle school through college.

I watch this video each and every morning

I send these kinds of videos to my dance team.  I spend time making 5 minute song mixes to try to motivate them during our wall sits, and picking music that I hope will be inspiring for the time when we do boards and run sprints.  I put quotations on the bottom of our rehearsal sheet every week.

Reasonably often the team laughs at me.  People I know make fun of me goodnaturedly.  They say it’s silly, they say that they are too jaded for such cheesy things to motivate or inspire them.  They imply that I am perhaps a bit of a simpleton for deriving motivation and inspiration from Michael Bolton singing Go the Distance from Hercules.   They may well be right and as usual I’m not saying anyone else has to crank up the Michael Bolton (although if you’re on my dance team you might be subjected to it during wall sits…).  So I guess I am kind of cheesy and simple when it comes to this.

I.  Do.  Not.  Care.

I jump off cliffs…and I fail and end up bloody and broken.  A lot.

I live in a world where I get 386,170 negative messages about my body every year and I choose to love myself and my body, and I want to let other people know that they can do the same if they choose.  Which means not just actively rejecting every single one of those messages but then finding the energy to shout new messages at the top of my voice (I often feel like the chihuahua in the picture above…)

I interact with people who identify as jaded and bitter, not as a temporary state but as a way of life.

I regularly watch people settle for less than they truly want or truly can be, because it’s easier or safer and/or by their own admission they are  just too scared or to complacent to make the effort.

Let me be clear – all of these are perfectly valid ways to live and I’m not judging them.  They just aren’t what I choose for me.  Please understand, it’s not that I think my way is better than anyone else’s, or that other people should choose my way.  It’s just that I’m committed to my way FOR ME.

For me – I want see the view from the top of the mountain of my potential.

You know how every 18 year old thinks they can change the world and then they outgrow it?  I thought I could change the world when I was 18.  Now that I’m 33 though…

…I’m absolutely CERTAIN I can.  I want to see who can I be, what difference can I make  if I do everything that I possibly can.

The catch is that in order to do that I have to avoid buying into all those negative messages.  I have to conquer fear after fear after fear.  I have to stand up to a big scary dog who thinks he could chew me up and spit me out (just go with me on the metaphor here).  I have to fail spectacularly and not let my failures get me down.  I can’t become jaded and bitter, no matter how many life experiences I have that make jaded and bitter seem like a reasonable things to be. I have to be honest and authentic  and avoid settling, even when things are hardest and an easier, safer option seems like a good idea; and no matter how many people would find me less weird/obnoxious/cheesy/intimidating  if I did.

So I use every tool available to me – inspiring quotations, songs, books, movies, vision boards, whatever. I celebrate my victories with a ridiculous butt-shaking happy dance. Anything that reminds me of who I want to be and what I want to accomplish in those low moments when I might be tempted to forget.  It works for me and I do not apologize for it.  Maybe I’m a cheesy simpleton, but I’m a cheesy simpleton who’s KICKING ASS!

Here’s one of my famous cheesy quotes.  I actually have this one on the mug that holds my toothbrush so I see it every morning and start my day ready for some ass-kickery:

“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.” –Og Mandino

Ok, one more since you asked nicely:

Indomitable, that’s the word…  Allons y!  –The Doctor