Do you get inspired by others? I mean, really inspired…like you take it to heart…and change your life because of it? Because I definitely do. I can look back and know specific instances in my life where someone inspired me…and it’s always in a certain way… and I knew it right away…and I took that inspiration and ran with it.
Each time I changed my life path because of that inspiration.
So let me explain.
Basically, with me, it’s always the same. I have some preconceived mind-set about something being a certain way…then I notice someone doing it different, doing what I thought wasn’t possible…and that changes everything for me! Then I know that if someone else can do it, then that means it’s possible(!) and…if it’s possible, then I can do it too.
Other times it’s that I don’t think it’s possible for me, even though I see others doing it. I get a subconscious mind-set about something…like if others are able to do something, that’s THEIR life… but it’s somehow not mine. (Does this ever happen to you?) For whatever reason, I’ve sold myself short or maybe just got stuck in a certain way of thinking…until I see someone that inspires me in a way that I suddenly see it different. I have that “light bulb moment” of inspiration…WHY CAN’T I??? And then, I realize…there’s no reason I can’t have that life too…I CAN…just go do it! Make it happen. Grab that life for myself!
Yes, I definitely get inspired by others and there are some specific times I have been inspired by others that have made a huge difference for me, both directly and indirectly, in learning how to live with fibromyalgia .
The first time I can remember this “inspiration moment” distinctly happening was when I was in second year university. I had been out for drinks with friends the night before and the waitress that served us was a fourth year student, I’d seen her around. She was an athlete and I was thinking how great it must be to be that fit and have that athletic lifestyle. I played a lot of neighbourhood sports as a kid, but outside of the required Phys Ed classes in high school, I hadn’t done anything athletic in years. I just didn’t think that was my life.
As I walked along the sidewalk the next day, alone with my thoughts, I had this uncomfortable feeling (about her) still nagging at me. I didn’t like being dissatisfied with myself or my life. And then…I can still remember it clearly…it really was like a light bulb went on…and it feels like I could have even said it out loud…WHY CAN’T I BE ATHLETIC? (as in…I CAN…and I’m going to!) And then I started working out and I DID become athletic…and I still am. (And if you can’t guess…besides being helpful in fighting endometriosis soon after that, years later, working out also became immensely helpful in fighting fibromyalgia, which I’ll get to in another blog post soon.)
Since then and after I developed fibromyalgia, there have definitely been more times I was really inspired by others in such a way that it was game changing for me in fighting fibromyalgia.
Before my diagnosis, doctors thought my symptoms resembled MS symptoms. My only experience with MS was a close family member who had slowly deteriorated over the years and as I tried to deal with what may lie ahead, I felt especially devastated over the thought that I would no longer be able to do the working-out that I had come to thrive on for physical and mental benefits.
But then, another inspiring person changed my life. At the time, there was a popular talk show host who had MS for years and he was clearly a super fit person that I could see must keep up a good work-out routine.
So that told me…IT’S POSSIBLE! And I was inspired!
I stepped up my working-out, determined to still keep fit. (And I felt I’d be okay now…this was absolutely a game changing life-line for me at the time.) When my diagnosis was not MS and turned out to be fibromyalgia, the working-out had already proved to be hugely helpful in combatting fibromyalgia in a real proactive way, so I just kept doing it.
But still, during my first while with fibromyalgia I got in my first of many(!) vicious circles. I believed (mistakenly) that fibromyalgia was gradually degenerative. So my symptoms would get worse, then I would mistakenly believe I had lost that ground for good, so I would stress, then my symptoms would get even worse, so then more stress, and so on. I was steadily going downhill…until…I bought a book about fibromyalgia. I found it to be truly positive and inspiring, with the most inspiring of all being that it stated the (new to me) fact that fibromyalgia symptoms “waxed and waned” as they put it.
As you can guess, this was SO INSPIRING (compared to what I had been thinking!) and a huge relief and absolutely another game changer (probably the biggest one). NOW, if my symptoms were worse, I could relax because I knew it could be temporary and in fact, I learned if I did relax, they often were temporary! I could also push the limits more with what I did, because I was no longer so worried about losing ground that I couldn’t get back. This totally changed how I approached fibromyalgia from then on.
Yes, what I know is real is being open to being inspired by others has absolutely been a game changer for me in my fight against fibromyalgia and in my life in general. I plan to keep being open to being inspired by others to keep seeing ways to change my life path for the better.
So, back to my original question. Do YOU get inspired by others? Are you open to being inspired by others?
I mean, because, I highly recommend it. It’s easy for me to be open to being inspired by others because I don’t think in terms of others being able to do things, but I can’t (do them). I just think that we’re all just humans, and yes, while we’re all unique individuals, we’re also all the same. If someone else can do something, I find it inspiring because that means it’s possible (at all), so…so can I. That opens the flood gates for me…I see the possibilities. (Then again…there are other times I’m optimistically trying something that I DON’T know is possible…but that’s a topic for another post!)
Yes, I have confidence to think that way I guess, but it’s not that I think I’m better than anyone else…. it’s that I think I’m LIKE everyone else. I think we’re all equally capable. We’re all more the same than different. Likewise, if I’m able to do something, I think others can too…I think YOU can too.
