Did you ever stop to think about those moments in your life when all the odds were against you with very little hope of coming out of the situation better off than before you started? But, by some leap of faith, the exact opposite happened? You rose from the ashes, a phoenix....spreading its wings and showing the world that you could pass the test. Have you ever though where this innate feeling comes from? Why do have this need to keep on pushing the envelope with our dreams and desires? We mostly hear about these kinds of stories coming out of a few areas in life: sports, illness and bullying, but there are so many more situations in this life that drive each of us to dig deep and find our own unique brand of 'horsepower'.There are a few stories of inspiration, drive and determination that I've always found to be inspired by. Remember MTV's 'The Real World'? Well, before it was all about drinking and sex. There was one cast member on the 10th season - Back To New York in 2001, that had big dreams of being a WWE Superstar one day. The odds certainly didn't seem in Mike Mizanin's favor. Mike was from a small town in Ohio called Parma, close to Cleveland. One of the drawbacks to being from a small town a lot is that you really aren't exposed to much of the world within the borders of that town unless you go searching for a broader scope of experiences. On The Real World, Mike put his foot in his mouth more than once as most of us have at some point or another in our lives, the only difference for Mizanin was that when he ate his foot, the entire world saw it. After The Real World, Mizanin went onto to pursue his professional wrestling career by joining Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) under the alias "The Miz", which he had used on The Real World as well. In 2004, The Miz entered into the 4th season of Spike TV's Tough Enough, a televised competition that would award the winner a contract with the Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment Corporation. Although he made it to the final round, he lost to his competitor, Daniel Puder for the contract. In 2006, Miz debuted as WWE's "Announcer" on Smackdown. And as time went on, he grew to become one of the biggest Superstars that the WWE contracts to date. This is just one example of how someone has a 'no holds barred' attitude when it comes to harnessing your dreams.
Inspiration can come from anything really. Anything that causes you to get up in the morning and do what you do, feed a inner fire or makes you happy. Most people search for a very long time to find out what inspires them about life and gives them a reason for getting up in the morning. Mine is pretty simplistic if you ask me. When I'm asked for example, why I want to be a personal trainer by some, my response is usually, "I just want to help people." Nothing fancy. No bows or ribbons or pretty boxes to enhance my answer. It's THAT simple. I think a lot of what inspires me stems from the struggle that we as human beings go through on a daily basis. Let's face it, life can be and is at some points depressing, sad & downright cruel. There's a reason to get up in the morning and if you're lucky, it won't take you very long to find out what it is that makes you happy. Helping people has always come naturally for me, from listening to friends and dishing out advice like it is my job to helping people physically, getting them back to a functional level of existence where they aren't living with pain or improving upon their selves. No matter what the situation may be, there's a great deal of empathy that goes into my thought process when dealing with others. My take on things is there's no problem that is too big that can't be solved by talking about it. Communication is key when listening to people and helping them find their way. I know a lot of people who tend to shut down when they are faced with troubling times and keep everything bottled up inside. We all know that this is NOT the best way to deal with things. You need to find support for your problems because there is no greater prison than being alone with your own thoughts and take on how your situation should go. Talk to others to get a new and fresh idea on things. We weren't meant to go through this life alone, we were created to make relationships with each other and help one another. It takes a lot of balls for someone to talk about their problems than to run from them.
I never really thought of myself as a very inspirational kind of guy. Yeah sure, I've beaten the odds and some people might admire that but I usually take on the modest role when people vocalize it. I posted on Facebook a few months ago a status that basically said that I thought that I'd never see a day when fitness wasn't fun anymore. Most of that status had stemmed from being in a car wreck and other emotions that were brought up because of it. One friend of mine, who is also a client at the gym I work at commented on the post. She stated, "Why? You inspire me." After reading the comment I got a small smirk on my face and my heart welled up with gratitude. I thought, "I guess I do have an effect on people after all." I learned in that instant, not that I didn't know this already, but people are always watching you. If you work in a career that has you constantly meeting and working with others, they are going to study you from time to time. If you exude great qualities, they might even start borrowing them to put into place in their own lives. And again this morning, after being away from the gym for a solid week due to getting things in my life evened out and de-stressed, the moment when members started to see me they all asked me where I had been and they thought they scared me away. I had to laugh at that and smile. Anybody can be inspired by others as well as be an inspiration for people just by being themselves and being there for friends and family when the seas are a little rough. You don't need to have an extraordinary story from your past, write a book, or do great things to be looked at as somebody worth creating a sacred space of peace and light that you can share with others.
My good friend Ari, whom I met at work have developed a friendship that I cherish a lot. Just a few weeks ago, he asked my about personal training and possibly getting certified as one. We had met at Starbucks just last weekend so I could give him the run down of things that he would need to do, study and know for the exam. Needless to say, I'm sitting in Starbucks waiting to have a study session and help him grasp some of the concepts in the first 2 chapters of the book. It's always a great feeling to help somebody reach their goals in life, no matter how big or small....just like Horton from Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears A Who". I don't think I could ask for a better life if I tried. And I think things for me are only going to improve as time goes on. I've got so many things to be very appreciative and grateful for: an absolutely wonderful boyfriend of almost 7 months!, an totally awesome family who would do anything to help me succeed, friends that would drop everything to help me if I needed it and enjoying good times as well as creating great memories along the way. I don't have a million dollars and really, I don't want it because like P. Diddy said when he used to be Puff Daddy, lol, Mo Money, Mo Problems.
Who will you inspire today? Or who will inspire you to do good in this world? Find your sacred breathing space and start writing, drawing and finding your calm in this world that is so badly wounded and damaged from centuries of hurt, anguish and pain. All it takes to changed people's thoughts are the simple things: a smile, a hug or a kind word.
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