You Should Inspire You

I noticed the competition for inspiring women is fierce on vocal. I have submitted more than one piece, but there are many people that inspire me and it is hard to choose just one. Until I realized something today. I am going up against multiple articles that have written about sisters, mothers, aunts and the occasional celebrity who faced environmental, feminist and educational issues.

In school, we were often asked to write about someone that inspires you and quite frankly, I was always stumped. I could write about one of my sisters, but then the other would question my decision. I could always write about my mother, but isn't that what mother's day is for? I would be staring at the piece of paper and nothing would come to me, so I would pick a random celebrity such as Oprah and write about her like the other forty percent of my class.

I never really idolized anyone, I found it off putting to idolize someone that you have never met. Sure, a celebrity can do charity work and help out those in need and suddenly the earth is on their hands and knees for them, but what if it was all publicity? What if that person was truly mean when you met them? It would shatter your fantasy that you built of that person. I never wanted to do that to myself. I always looked up to the one person that knew me best and that person is me. I know about my faults, my weird pet peeves and I know what I am good at and what I am not. Why am I an inspiration to myself you ask? Good question, because I can always improve myself to be better every day. I don't know if this perspective came to me because of a sticker that is on the wall in my basement that states: "Tomorrow I will be perfect". I truly believe that just because the day did not go as planned I look at the sticker and I realize that tomorrow will be a new day and it is time to start thinking about how I can improve myself to have a better day tomorrow. Walt Disney lived similarly, I recently, started watching the show called "Imagineering" and the people interview stated that as soon as they thought of something new and it was completed. Walt would push his employers to think of something new, he encouraged them to keep on creating new ideas every day. Sure, there are days where I wish I had achieved more, but I look back at everything that I have achieved and I feel proud.

I used to play the flute in band and my teacher would make everyone play in front of everyone else in the class, it was already awkward enough to be in junior high and then there was this added pressure every time it was my turn I would blush and say "I am not ready" and then it brought my mark down and GPA down as well. Once high school hit I was confident enough to play in front of the teacher without getting weird about it. I overcame my fear by myself by taking a chance and I remember feeling proud. No one told me to do it, I just did it. I think that is where a lot of my independence comes from. Same with my writing ever since I learned how to write I wrote stories of my own, the spelling was horrible and my grammar was worse than it is now. I never used periods or commas, it would be these long pages with no pauses anywhere. I eventually learned how to do that too. I have had teachers inspire me here and there, but there was not one person that I thought one day I will grow up to be like them. I was myself and copying anyone else was a waste of time in my opinion. Everyone is their own person and everyone should look up to themselves and say "I am the inspiration of today and tomorrow." We should be inspired by our own failures. Aren't we all inspired by ourselves? Have you ever lost a game of basketball and your coach said: " we should all quit". No, because I do not think any coach has ever said that. Instead, he or she always says "we have to train harder in order to beat that team next time".

Then, when it comes to your job and career and your boss tells you, you made a mistake. Then what is it that you do? you do not walk out of the office and quit your job, you fix your mistake and prove to yourself that you can do it. Then, you learned something new, you learned that you can complete the task that you set out to do.

Perspective is everything. I live by another quote it is by “If you don’t like it change it if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it” I am not sure about who the author is, but that is all we have to do in order to better ourselves. It is the same idea as to when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Think about that quote on its own, is a celebrity going to make lemonade for you? no. Is your sister going to make lemonade for you? No. How about your brother? No. Your cousin, your uncle, your aunt, your friend, your enemy? no. None of these people are going to be making lemonade for you, that's the reality. You need to change the perspective yourself. You can be a change in the world.