One thing that inspired you...

[Jia]

​

​

Sometimes you come across something that wasn't planned, something that rattles you, touches you, wakes you up and lets you break out of your daily grind. A picture, a movie scene, the melody of a song, a train of thought, an idea, a realization, a moment that you shared with a loved one, a few words, an emotion, an act of compassion...​

​

What inspires you? What gives you that sudden surge of awareness, what stimulates your mind and makes you feel awake, alive?​

​

Your mission is to post about a moment that inspired you, ideally something that's happened to you this week. There's no rush - and if your week ends up being thoroughly unspectacular, don't fret; it's fine to post about something that happened to you a while back!​

 

[tr1age]

 

[REDACTED]

Over the weekend I finally saw the Disney movie "Brave" in 3D on my new television. I really enjoyed it, especially the fact that it was the first Disney movie where the princess did not have to find a Prince for her happy ending. One quote that inspired me, beyond all the beautiful animation work was from the lead character:
Merida: "There are those who say that fate is something beyond our command. That our destinies are not our own. But I know better. Our fate lives within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it."
As I have shared before... my nickname is Kismet (aka Fate)... and I really identified with this quote. It is beautiful, hopeful and inspirational. Good mission this week!

 

[Ultra CHEZ]

This is perfect timing! I recently had a pretty inspirational moment.

So my school decided to try out this thing called Academicon for the first time last week. Essentially, students sign up to listen to various people discuss various topics; usually about school or career paths. Anyway, this software developer came and discussed how he and a friend made levels for this game called Temple of Ashai (really old game from the Apple 2 era) in High School. The developers liked the levels so much that they made them into expansions. The speaker then spoke about how this inspired him to further develop his skills in software.

Nerd that I am, stories such as this always get me really pumped up. I've always loved video games, and would love to pursue a career in them, so when anyone talks about how they got into the industry, I get simultaneously worried (because what if I'm not good enough) and inspired (because what if I am).

Bungie Studio's series, Breaking In, always makes me feel the same way.

 

[Keleynal]

Not to be too sappy or anything, but I get most of my inspiration/motivation from my kids. They are always super-excited to see me when I get home from work each day. At the end of a long, possibly depressingly boring day, it's huge to be greeted with love and enthusiasm. In the morning when I go through my usual "Why am I waking up now?? Can't I just call in sick?? routine, remembering that I do what I do for my kids gets me up and going. Coffee also does that, but to a lesser extent.

 

[Jia]

Two things:

I was watching a documentary of "The Bones Brigade", purely to gain more knowledge about the skateboarding scene. The narrative was done via interviews with some of the most renown names in skateboarding history and the core members of the Bones Brigade itself.
I was quite amazed at the underlying wisdom that some of these guys were sharing.
One thing in particular was about inventing/learning new skateboarding tricks:

Mike McGill saw a rollerskater do a neck-breaking "540" trick, and he tried to copy it on his skateboard.

He said: "It took a lot of courage, because I didn't necessarily do that kind of thing. I mean, of course I skated as hard as I could, but I didn't take that kind of a risk. But I wanted to do this, and I just thought: You know what? I'm gonna do it." "

So he diligently pushed himself into learning that trick. He had to commit himself to a dangerous position where he would be spinning blindly in the air, risking serious injuries - and after so many tries, he finally succeeded in nailing the trick.

Mullen adds: "Belief is at the heart of everything"

And Hawks, who then tried to learn the trick as well: "It's all [about] convincing yourself. Every trick that I had never done before was a matter of telling myself: You are capable of doing this, this is possible, go do it."

I found that very inspiring. Of course we hear these types of messages often, how success and failure are dictated by your state of mind. But for some reason that message never hit home for me as much as it did when I listened to these guys talk. It's inspiring me to step out of my comfort zone and reach for something that's in my grasp, if only I believe in myself.

--------------------------

The other thing was a line that I read about "heroes":

"We live in a culture that wants our heroes sanitized and stuffed, because the real message behind Martin Luther King day is this: he could do it, you cannot, so you honor him. His dream is dead, we have embalmed it, and you will pay respects. The most dangerous concept in our culture is a human hero, with human flaws, human weaknesses. Because then the message is: you know what? ANYONE CAN DO THIS."

 

[TIG]