One of the best ways to find inspiration is to expose yourself to things you have no experience with. Explore different ways of life. Try out new foods and different types of physical activity. Read books that show cultures you have never seen before. Find mentors by exploring YouTube and other aspects of social media.
Always be open to experiences. It may lead you to your greatest passion. The more you expose yourself to the easier it will be to find something to submerse yourself in. My husband likes to cook. He prefers to BBQ and use his smoker but he also experiments with all types of dishes. We come up with different takes on recipes we find online. We often talk about him someday starting some sort of lunch truck as a business. Maybe he'll specialize in grilled cheese sandwiches. Or stick to his famous BBQ ribs and brisket. Since he's already mastered (relatively speaking) the cooking world he has turned to baking (much to the dismay of my waistline!). He has perfected the chocolate chip cookie and gets rants and raves and requests at this point. He is undertaking homemade pies now. He also makes a mean strawberry/banana bread. He just keeps finding new things to do in the area he already loves. The trick is to take action once inspiration strikes.
I've talked about the movie 'The Greatest Showman' before and how it truly inspired my whole 'Hopefulist' brand. I had seen the movie and enjoyed it but it wasn't a big deal. But as I was driving to work one day I heard a song on the radio and it sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place it. I looked it up when I got to to work and realized it was a song from that movie redone by Pink. It was called 'A million dreams'. There was something in that moment when I heard that song. The lyrics really spoke to me. I truly felt like I was in a trance. It made me realize I was so much more than I was doing. Don't get me wrong. I was on my way to a job that I loved. But after hearing this song I realized I could do even more. My first instinct was to start writing a blog. So I dusted off my wordpress account and reset my long forgotten password and started writing. From that point I wanted to focus on the transition I made in my life from pessimist to optimist. It was still difficult for me to call myself an optimist at that point because it felt unnatural and foreign after being a pessimist my whole life. That is when I came up with the title of my blog as 'The Hopefulist'. And the idea just expanded from there. As some of you know I lost my job about two weeks after starting the blog which in turn spurred me to start the podcast. It's almost like the universe knew that I would need something soon to spend my time on and it delivered.
The moral of the story....inspiration can strike at any time. It may be something as simple as a song that could spark a lifelong passion or help you realize your true purpose in this life. Because I will tell you I never had any desire to do something like I am doing now. Never. I didn't want to have a business or even be a boss. But just like that, it all changed. So don't discount or dismiss anything. Keep an open mind and when an idea comes to you, run with it. It may not be your next passion. But it may be.
Look to people who you admire and want to live a similar life. Follow their footsteps and learn all about them to see if you are willing to do what they have done to get where they are. My best advice is to read, read, read. I mean everything. Read articles anywhere you can find them, magazine and newspaper. Read autobiography's and biography's of people you admire. And read novels that will not only entertain you but expose you to different ways of life. Books that will teach you things you have no experience in. You may just find something that you love.
My advice is to read a book for fun, a biography of someone you admire and a personal development book. And always, always keep an open mind because inspiration truly can strike at any time. Even at 4 in the morning on the way to work.
Thursday already? Is this week going fast for you? Go out there and be your badass self. I'm here, cheering you on.
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