Inspiration

We are all inspired by someone or something, whether it is to aspire to be like someone, achieve what that person has achieved, or we are inspired to change something.

I know I have been inspired in the last few years by Betsy Gray Talbot and Warren Talbot, Married with Luggage, to learn to live on less.

From them, I have learnt to look at my “possessions” in a totally new light. Things like, do I really need all of my mother’s 18 place setting china that my father gave to her as an anniversary present? Yes, it is beautiful and yes, it is worth some money as it was Made in Occupied Japan. But really, 18 place setting? My lifestyle doesn’t center around giving lavish dinner parties. And besides, I would be too scared I’d break a dish or two. By the way, that’s number 22 on my list (ship the 1/2 of the china to my sister)

I have also been inspired by Debbie Whitlock, Femme Finance, to stretch my wings as far as they can spread and don’t even stop then. Keep stretching.

She was the one who inspired me to take this plunge of 60 by 60. She did hers when she was turning 39. It was her 40 by 40. During that year and since then, I have been inspired by her growth not only in herself but in her business. She had bigdreams on her list and I know most of them came true and more. If I could achieve half of what she achieved and continues to achieve, I would be estatic.

Then there is Joyce Leslie, althetic extraordinaire.  I meet Joyce through running. We started running at the same pace and now she is outpacing me by more minutes than I care to admit.

But Joyce has been a great supporter of mine. She pushed me when I had the stress fracture to swim to keep in shape. But not only did she push me, she joined in. She pulled me into a Master Swim class where I swam with her for several months. I’m biking because of her and even taking a strength endurance class with her now. A lot of my want to be fit items are because of her. Check out numbers 7, 9, 13, 25, and 34.

Those are just some of the people that have inspired me and still inspire me to this day.  But I never realized or really thought I inspired others. But because of my 60 by 60 blog and putting it out there, I am finding I do inspire others.

Betsy Gray Talbot has told me numerous times that I inspired her to train for the 2010 Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon after I completed the 2009 Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon. And more importantly, running has changed her life. I think to myself, I did that???

This past week, Joyce Leslie announced to me that her daughter, Shanel Kemp, has been inspired by my 60 by 60 list and is already planning to put her list together for her  30 by 3. I am deeply touched.

Others have posted or commented that they have also wanted to achieve things in their lives that they just haven’t gotten to yet. My putting this all out there has inspired them to dust off their list and get going on them.

For those who have reached out and told me that I have inspired them, I am totally humbled.  

But please, look around you. I am sure that you have touched someone’s life in ways that are far more reaching than even you or them can imagine. So who have you inspired? How did it feel? And did you inspired someone today?