Do you ever find yourself just strolling through your day-to-day life not feeling inspired in the slightest? You ask yourself how the heck did I get home as you pull into the garage? Then you drag your butt inside to start a meal for the family that you just slap together for the fifth evening in a row. Totally uninspired. Then you kick yourself because you think life should be so much more.
You ask… How can I get inspired by life again? To tell the truth I’m not even that inspired to write this article. So much has happened in the last few months that my mind can’t catch up. The death of my father, the perimenopause disaster, the kitchen remodel arguments, or the teenager who hates me at the moment. I am just surviving at the moment. Again I think, shouldn’t I want to live this big fantastic life? I get angry at myself for muttering through.
When those intrusive thoughts kick in so does my AD/HD and my mind bounces around from self-loathing to mania, having to solve all my problems at once. Like all the forty TVs in my head are on and at full volume. I can’t settle on any one solution to the seemingly huge problem ahead of me. I try and try to unravel the knot but it just gets more snarled binding my brain into a tight mess that stymies me into inaction.
This wake, work, sleep loop, or whatever you want to call it halts all forward action. Day after day unable to break the cycle until you break down or face the problem head-on.
Do we really need to be inspired all the time? Is that what life is?
What Kind of Uninspired Life is That?
I know I can’t live in this shut-off, stressed-out version of myself. Furthermore, I am unable to give all of my best self. My husband gives me side glances, not sure if he can approach the beast that might be just under the surface. Inside, I scream and scream at myself to engage. To find the inspiration I so desperately seek. It’s like that scene in the kid’s movie The Incredibles. The mom is at the table with the kids and they are running amock. She tries to calm the chaos as it grows and grows. The dad is checked out in the kitchen and the mom finally screams, “Bob Engage!” I am Bob. That is how my mind feels.
Consequently, this is the moment I seek silence. In that silence is where I can slowly start to claw my way out of my own private hell. Equally important, I tell myself to breathe.
Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Vicktor Frankel
I’ll tell you, I’m not great with sitting with my feelings. The creepy uncomfortableness of a feeling scratches at my very core. So much so that I am hardly able to identify what I am feeling. I am constantly learning to feel. This was not a part of my childhood. Feelings were a weakness or a problem to overcome. Forever stunting my emotional growth, which I am, now forty-five years old, trying to rectify.
In effect, I look at inspiration as a feeling. Something that can be analyzed and hopefully turned around. Like sad to happy. So I have to ask myself the big question. Why? Why am I not feeling inspired, motivated, or excited about my life?
What Do I Do to Get Inspired?
I dread this process immensely. In fact, sitting in that uncomfortable space, deconstructing its meaning is so scary to me. I’d rather face a swarm of bees.
- In this learning process and undoing all the damage from youth, I have come to realize that sitting with it is the first major step toward getting over it and moving on! In effect, finding out how to get inspired for my future.
- I also sit down with pen and paper and write. I write down all the things I have accomplished, from raising great amazing kids to the smallest bit of my life, like getting to work on time.
- In addition, I try to get into the present. I write down all the good things that happened to me in a day. The kind smile from a stranger, the great resolution of a problem at work, or even the unsolicited hug from my teen. I notice what I have. Try to find your inspiration. Here is a little more information.
- Equally important, I try to up my workouts. I walk an extra ten minutes or add to my yoga routine. I get moving. Not only does this release endorphins and such, but it also gives me a bit of extra time to sit with the feelings.
- Once I am feeling better and the knots in my brain are loosening, I sit down and try to prioritize what is important to me. What might make me feel inspired? Then I work on small steps that might shift me to the spot I want to be. Maybe wake up a bit earlier or research that place I want to travel to. Then how to get to that place.
Bottom Line
I try and find what matters to me every single day, and what I need to do to make sure what matters is in everything I do. Life isn’t always a grand adventure, but keep those grand dreams alive and strive for them every day.
I have learned I need to be gentle with myself, love myself. I know that I was put on this planet to be all me. There is no one else like me and what I offer can not be offered by anyone else. That being said, it also means that I do not have to inspire every minute of every day. I have come to terms with the idea that every moment of my life does not have to be an adventure. Inspiring to all around me. That maybe, just maybe living as best I can day-to-day is enough.
Here is another article that I think might be useful. 24 Favorite Inspirational Quotes for Women to Empower and Uplift
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