A Moment of Clarity...and Inspiration

So in skimming the blogspace of my fellow bloggers this morning I came across one by Richard that really became the theme of my day: Inspiration. What inspires you? Who do you inspire?

So I read Richard’s blog then went about my day as normal. As lunch approached I prepared for our office Walk it Off day, a thing I started to help motivate my coworkers into getting out of the office and walking during their lunch. See, while I work for an outstanding company, the nature of our business breeds a lot of workaholics, and frankly it bothers me to see so many people sitting at their desk for 10 hours, never seeing the light of day and consuming massive quantities of soda and fast food. I am a super hippie. So I started Walk it Off.

Last week’s debut was a hit. Seven people joined me in a hike up the hill to the lake around the corner. A coworker and I walked a total of 4 miles. So fun! Then today, as I skipped from cubicle to cubicle merrily asking everyone if they were ready to go, my heart sank deeper and deeper only to realize no one wanted to participate today. Everyone was too tired. Too busy. Too lazy.

So I went alone. I marched up that hill, cursing under my breath at how lame everyone was being. Angry that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t seem to inspire the people in my office to be healthy. 10 minutes later my subconscious delivered my ego a mental bitch-slap.

“Who cares?” said my mind to my brain. “Who cares what everyone else is doing? You just ran a mile all on your own and didn’t even notice it.”

Mind you, I am the girl with asthma, allergies, a bad knee, bad back and bad joints. 6 months ago I had trouble walking fast, much less running. Now I can easily run a mile during lunch and make it through a day at work. And all because 6 months ago I decided that hey, I want to try running a 5k. Ok, so I run/walked it. Big deal, I did it! So guess what, I do inspire someone…ME!

I guess that’s my inspirationally themed message of the day. If you really want to inspire people, you have to begin with yourself. Go out and conquer challenges you never thought possible. Show yourself you can overcome ANYTHING, even with the odds stacked neatly against you. Who knows? Maybe you’ll actually inspire someone else in the process. :-)


The medal from my 5k. Yeah!