5 Inspirational Lessons to Getting What You Want. The Hard Way.

I’ve just finished reading Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia Project, serendipitously finishing the last sentence as I approached my bus stop coming home from work. This book followed swiftly after my adventures with Rita the Nomad in Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World and Chrissy Wellington with her Life Without Limits. I’m on an inspiration bender. It seemed the right time.

After recovering from the shock of the summer hiatus that occurs mid year in Europe, it felt like an appropriate time to inoculate aforementioned inspiration. This does not mean that I want to become a cook, an ironman, or a nomad (though, 200 pages in I am in full character assimilation mode), but I have a strange fascination to see how others have forged their own path. If they can write about it, and avoid sticking it in the biography genre, I’m sold (though, come to think of it, I will peruse that section too, so fear not dear authors…).

Seeing the success and inspiration in others has a way of helping me find my own. While I simultaneously love and abhor walking The Designated Path, I need signposts to drag me along. It seems I’m destined to not walk this paved Yellow Brick Road toward a guarantee, thus my brain enters continuous bouts of panic (“Get OFF this dirt trail! There’s a perfectly good path beside you and it sparkles – come ON”). But whilst the path I’m seeking to walk is decidedly unclear, discovering elements about these stories that work (and I admire) can be a huge step in the right direction. Hey, mimicking helped E. L. James.

Inspiration Lesson Number 1:
Freaking Out Is Perfectly Normal.

Julie taught me that – and I do it with far less pan throwing (though I lack the added benefit of comfort food post-freak-out. Rats). Hey, even Chrissy Wellington had some pretty big freak outs! Though I admit they were before very large and very intimidating races – so fair enough. I can’t quite compete.

Inspiration Lesson Number 2: There Are Mundane Times.

When reading a book about an achievement, it’s easy to mix up the paralleled book-pace:life-pace ratio. Enter: reading between the lines! For Rita (we are on familiar terms by now), it took 23 years for her to settle into discovering the way of life she most connects with, and she was learning by doing along the way. Julie took a year to do what I read in a week. Things take time. It can be frustrating and messy, but put the building blocks in front of you and things will happen… which leads me to my…

Inspiration Lesson Number 3: Persistence.

All three of these authors showed tremendous amounts of this, most notable Chrissy Wellington. Now, I had an inkling of what it took to be an Ironman, but even this paled idea paled in the shadow of her Actual Journey. The lengths that this woman went to to create an account that was humour-filled, and very honest, was touching. It also made me realise that the first step is get OFF your backside and DO something. Work out what works and what doesn’t and HONE it. Want your body to be in peak physical condition? – train it, push it, and look after it. Eating is just as important as exercise, recovery just as important as pushing yourself. There is a fine balance to life, and being single-focused can reap it’s rewards.

Inspiration Lesson Number 4: There Are Endless Possibilities.

Just as I suspected all along. There are endless possibilities to a path and it is possible to include, stand by, and work with your personal values and motivators. Just be flexible and understand that whatever you want to work, can work. I can see heads nodding. Too self explanatory?

Inspiration Lesson Number 5: Never Give Up…and Smile.

Chrissy Wellington’s words, not mine. It’s her prime motivating statement. Seems there’s happiness to find and spread. Julie Powell concludes by saying the thing she most learnt from her year-long experiment with Julia Childs was joy. There’s a strong motivator to striving for, achieving or appreciating happiness. Whether it feels like I harp on about it or not, and while I don’t think it’s the ultimate goal to life, I think it’s a pretty strong tool for motivation…

And we all need some of that every now and then.

What do you think? Any inspiration lessons you’ve found and want to share?