Last month, we spoke about when bad things happen, and what we do about it. Because life is about opportunity and it’s also about challenge. So this month, I want to talk about inspiration. I want to talk about how, whether bad things or good things are happening, how inspiring ourselves or inspiring others is so important. 

Inspiration can have a significant impact on our growth, on our wellbeing, and on our belief in our ability to achieve our dreams. Motivation comes from inspiration. If we can allow ourselves to be inspired enough, it motivates us to reach for what we want, it motivates us to look at our needs and our wants, not just focus always on helping others to achieve their needs and wants. How do we motivate ourselves? We can inspire ourselves by tapping into what drives us, what’s important to us? What is it we need that gives us a sense of excitement at the beginning of the day, or a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day? So inspiration will always lead to motivation if we engage with it. And that is really important. 

And of course, the more we inspire ourselves, the more we develop resilience. When we’re challenged, it’s very easy to fall into the negativity of the challenge, to feel sorry for ourselves, to feel life is unfair. However, when we’re challenged, if we can see the opportunity for growth in that challenge either for ourself or for others, then that makes a big difference. It strengthens our sense of self, it gives us a solid grounding, a base to stand on, from which we can then be a source of assistance and support for other people. Mental toughness comes as a result of being challenged. And that’s what resilience is, it’s mental toughness. If we’re never challenged or if we run away from challenge or avoid it, we don’t develop the inner knowing that says, it might be bad but that we have the tools to deal with it. If we’re never tested, we never know the extent of our strength. 

And finally, you know, the more we inspire ourselves, the more we become a role model and an inspiration for other people. They see how we’re navigating challenges and problems. And it makes them look at themselves. Of course with some people they’ll look and say, oh, it’s easy for that person but the majority of people will look at someone and how they’re handling something. And it will inspire them to look at their own life and their own challenges. To question are they handling those challenges? Are they handling their life as well as they could? In other words, are they getting the most out of it? 

When we inspire ourselves and others, we fuel motivation – our own and theirs – personal growth because we become more than we thought we could be, and resilience. And what that does is that we mean more to ourselves and more to other people. And that’s not ego, that’s not being big headed. That’s about being willing to live a fulfilling and happy life. Because we can.