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People who Inspire You (To Do What They Do/Did)

SeaAndSky

SeaAndSky

Senior Registered
This is a new one. I'm not speaking about all of those folks who you look up to and admire but don't seriously think you could ever emulate. The world is full of heroic figures, artists, statesmen, etc. etc. that I will (frankly) never be! I'm talking about the ones that you look up to and admire and say, "Hey! I could do/be that too, and I'd really like to!" In other words, they are the ones who get you off your fanny and moving in a direction that you want to go and, despite the possibility of self-delusion, probably can. This could be the person who can paint and makes you believe that you really could do this, want to do this, and I'm getting started. It could be just about anything!

So, this could be someone from the past or someone who is doing that for you right now. At present for me this person is (a recent discovery), Grandma Gatewood! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Gatewood I'll get into all of the reasons why she represents this for me in another post. (I'm running out of time at the moment). However, this will give you some ideas:

"Emma Gatewood told her family [of 11 grown children] she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin. There she sang the first verse of “America, the Beautiful” and proclaimed, “I said I’ll do it, and I’ve done it.” Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18527222-grandma-gatewood-s-walk Some on the board may also be interested to know that she worked extremely hard her entire life and was viciously abused in her marriage--but she overcame all of that (and maybe because of all of that) did some things that no one else had ever done before.

So, give me your current inspirations for things you're actually doing or going to do as we all sit her cooped up!

Cordially,
S&S
 
Oh, there are many people who inspire me. Just that their way can't be exactly my way. I admire people in general who manage to find and then do "their thing". Who do something that brings joy to others (or helps them in any way) with something they actually love doing. Doesn't even have to be unique. Doesn't have to been anything special. Just something I can identify myself with, if necessary. Something I can do from my heart. (If I loved cleaning or garden work, that would be easy, just that those are something I do because it's necessary, not because I love it.)
Still searching, and that in my age... but I wouldn't be the first one who finds "their thing" late.
As not everyone who found and does "their thing" is a genius, multi-talent or had a millionaire at hand, as people who have been "average joes" before managed to get there, I should be able to do the same.
(If I don't have an idea for something that is doable without relying on others, money or luck/"manifestation" too much soon, I'll apply for honorary work in a cat shelter.)
 
"I'm not speaking about all of those folks who you look up to and admire but don't seriously think you could ever emulate. The world is full of heroic figures, artists, statesmen, etc. etc. that I will (frankly) never be!"
Click to expand...
In that case, no I can't think of anyone. I can only be the best version of myself.
 
Hi Speedwell/Seeker,

Well, what is it you would like to do that you have never done, and feel like you cannot do--in the general sense? I will give a bit more explanation. My life has been unbalanced towards the cerebral side vs. the physical. It has been unbalanced towards office work vs. outdoors. It has been unbalanced towards the prosaic vs. the artistic. Life will do that. However, that doesn't mean that those were my innate tendencies. I loved doing things in the woods growing up; I loved the ocean, beach and water generally; I loved drawing and art; and perhaps like many I longed for adventure. To make a long story short, for one reason and another (love, practicality, and chance) none of these came to fruition. Finally you get to an age where you think there is no point in trying anymore. Then someone comes along and shows you that some things are still possible. It just so happens that one of the things I wanted to do at one point was hike the Appalachian Trail. Here is this 67 year old great-grandmother who just up and does it way back in '55. No preparation worth speaking of, when the trail was a whole lot more primitive than it is now. (And, believe me, little old ladies just didn't do that kind of thing in the U.S. in 1955). That's gutsy! More than 2000 miles starting with a change of clothes and not much else--and she did it (more than once). No fancy equipment or preparations, she knew all about wild foods and made do the best she could. So, I said: "Maybe I can only do it in sections, and maybe my feet (which ain't so great) won't hold out, but I can try!" So, I started extending my daily walk from 1/2 to one hour and getting a good steady march going. When I can I'm going to do some good hikes with the family and start moving towards getting back into things. Who knows, maybe I can still get to the trail itself one day! In the meantime, at least I'm doing something and feeling more positive.

Cordially,
S&S

PS--That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Something that makes you get going and pick up a paint brush, a violin, a hammer, a soup ladle, etc. and get moving.
 
I wanted to expand on my previous comments in this thread. For me, most of the time, the best things have come to me almost effortlessly, and the times when I've particularly tried to do something often have been the most useless or futile. So I don't think I quite get inspired in those respects.

However, I do get inspired by other people, There is almost an archetype,. some type of role which gets played out by numerous people, and characterised oddly enough in some of the true-life accounts in a book titled, "The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible" by John Geiger. In many of these accounts, a person, often alone, finds him or herself far from home or any kind of help, for example lost in a small boat at sea, or stuck high on a mountain. The stories of how these people found the strength to go on, to survive, to somehow keep going in the most desperate circumstances, that does inspire me. Often there is a somewhat mystical element in these events, the so called 'third man' refers to some unseen companion often walking beside the person, perhaps adding words of advice, such as which direction to go when lost, or just as an encouraging companion, that is another aspect to this book.

So my inspiration is not to achieve some new feat. but simply to survive the toughest times.
 
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