People talk all the time about inspiration: how important it is, how much it propels them forward in life, etc. Yet, many of us don’t realize that much of what we say is mere lip service, because somewhere along the way, we got so caught up in the things for which we needed inspiration that we LOST that inspiration without knowing it!

Inspiration is, as the title suggests, EVERYTHING. Without inspiration, motivation exists in too limited supply, and we slip too easily into a hollow routine that, eventually, means nothing to us anymore. No matter how much we love something, a lack of inspiration can quickly make our favorite things more painful than chores!

Today, we wanted to discuss the importance of inspiration, and a few places that you might never expect to FIND inspiration (but, perhaps, provide the best inspiration of all)!

Negative Experiences

Some of you may know this, but we know that many people don’t. The rough times in our lives (i.e., loss, tragedy, breakups, illnesses, etc.) have a great deal of potential in the inspiration department. Of course, we realize that it never seems that way at the time; at the height of these events, all we can see, and feel, is the pain of them, and the hardships we expect to face in the aftermath. HOWEVER, these events can also be -openers and chances for self-evaluation and reflection and hold within them opportunities to do things differently than we have been. They also offer us the chance to show ourselves how quickly we can pick ourselves up and move forward, which is, in itself, one of the best of inspiration.

Studying Nature

We know that, for years, doctors, therapists and mental health advocates have been selling us on the idea of going for a nice walk to clear our heads and put things into perspective. What we mean, though, is taking it a step or two further. While on these walks, take the time to REALLY LOOK at nature. Examine trees and how their roots grow and expand and run further and deeper than we can often see. Think about the elements they’ve withstood and the time it took for them to become what they are. Feel free to compare yourself and your accomplishments and hard times to those trees. It may seem crazy, but thinking this way, if only for a few minutes, can help you see things in a different light and give you renewed inspiration.

Cartoons

No, we don’t mean that you’ll find life-altering advice or inspiration in a show. What we ARE saying is that taking the time to enjoy things like cartoons (or comics, if that used to be your thing as a child) can bring back pleasant memories from childhood, help you find a little piece of “home” in your heart, and help you relax enough to return to everyday life feeling refreshed and more like the “you” you were before rammed its way into your reality. Heck, feel free to make yourself a blanket fort and color in it, too, while watching your cartoons for a couple of hours a week! The point is to feel comfortable, safe and happy, so you CAN find that much-needed inspiration.

Reading

This is another one that many people likely know about, but we want to explain a little about WHY reading helps in finding inspiration. Even the most fictional of all (good) fiction stories has some conflict, some struggling characters, and some situations with which many of us can relate (if not 100%, or from a very literal standpoint, we can at least relate to the emotions the characters experience during their respective scenarios). And, while we know that the characters in fictional stories ARE, indeed, fictional, if we read with an open mind, we can learn a little something about how those characters handled themselves and take solace in the fact that, although they DID struggle, they came out on the other side and can now move on with their lives. Real or not, we can learn a great deal from fictional characters and their stories, which paves the way for a fresh dose of inspiration.

YouTube

Sure, it’s easy to watch our favorite YouTube channels/YouTubers and feel a deep, green envy. But no matter how successful they are, or whether they can make a full-time living doing what they do, they did NOT start out that way. They started out making one video at a time (as you, perhaps, started out with one project/client/task at a time) and worked their way up. The important thing you should take away from them is that if THEY could follow their dreams, so can YOU! NOT have to mean impossible, and you owe it to yourself to keep that in mind!

Inspiration Sharing

Do any of you have your own unusual, weird, or fun method of inspiration-seeking you’d like to share with us? Please let us know! There’s absolutely no such thing as too much inspiration info/advice!