What Inspires Me? (Ideals/Things)

This is Part 2 of letting you the readers discover what makes me tick. Sometimes we are inspired not by someone but by ideals we hold dear to our heart. These are mine.

Passion - My last semester of college, I took a leadership class that was designed to help us seniors discover what made us passionate in order to refine our goals for being in the real world. No matter what we did, we had to find what we cared about and not let go of it.

This drives me everyday. The passion to be a great writer. Not just about sports but about myself, my times and those around me. Everything I do in life has to be something I care about and occasionally my heart is on my sleeve.

Every time I discover something new, I jump full steam into it. History, video games, music, schoolwork, whatever. I'm passionate about the things and friends who matter to me and that passion will one day drive me once again into a beautiful relationship with someone.

Dreams - I'm no Sigmund Freud but I believe dreams say a lot about us. I love analyzing them when friends tell me about them and it's no surprise that one of my favorite Bible characters is Daniel, a man who saw visions.

Before anyone can see anything for me, I have to follow my own dreams. I used to live in a world of ideals, dreaming of what a girlfriend, college, journalism and growing up would be. When I got to college, I realized that reality doesn't go according to plan and I had to mesh my dreams with what I saw and experienced.

That's why Inception has such a big effect on me - I'm fascinated by the psychology of a dream state as well as the ideas that come to us there.

Now I believe that meshing dreams with reality is the best way to be. But I still dream on, reflecting on my past, wondering about my future while living in my present.

Nature - Something about in God's Grandeur is peaceful. The trees, the birds, the sky. The world mostly untampered by us. If you ever get to take a retreat in the woods, do it.

The Journey/The Process - Too often we celebrate the goal instead of appreciate the process to get somewhere. If school taught me anything, you don't enjoy graduation until you look at how you got there. Even when I was little, I liked challenges and if I couldn't figure it out right away, I'd keep trying after some time.

Embrace the struggle and the potential for growth. That's what I've learned/applied all my life. Like the Ataris said, "Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up"

History - Those who fail to know their past are doomed to repeat it. I've been a fan of history since I was a kid just wanting to know all of the Presidents and state capitals. Maybe it was reading those encyclopedias but I got started early and often. I had a 5th grade teacher who helped develop that love and it blossomed in high school and college.

If you don't know your past, you won't understand your present or help change your future

Satisfaction - I once wrote about how I chase this instead of perfection. Instead of chasing an ideal that you will never reach, search to be satisfied in accomplishing your best and finding imperfect people who will be your closest friends. This is different than settling - settling mean happy with getting by. Satisfied means striving for perfection and accepting that although you won't reach it, you still accomplish a lot.

Sunsets - You haven't lived until you've seen a sunset in San Diego. And you really haven't lived til you stood on the shore of a beach and watched it up close with the waves crashing at your feet. I've been inspired by many a poem because of it.

It's interesting. In New York, the sun sets and you can still see it setting nearly an hour as it makes it way around the country. In Seattle, the sun doesn't set til almost 10 in the summer. Blows my mind.

Faith - It's my inspiration that I try to tap into more every day. Without faith or hope, I feel like my life is meaningless.

Next up, Music.