It's a word we use all the time.
But what really is it?
By the dictionary?
In·spi·ra·tion
noun
1.an inspiring or animating action or influence: I cannot write poetry without inspiration.
2.something inspired, as an idea.
3.a result of inspired activity.
4.a thing or person that inspires.
5.Theology .
a) a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.
b) the divine quality of the writings or words of a person so influenced.
To me, inspiration is people, places, words, music, experiences, dreams, art and so so much more. Inspiration is everything: everywhere and anywhere. That is why I haven't written a blog post for a while: my head has been forcibly crammed full of technical information, lost in the world of school and exams and stress, so I have been entirely blind to everything that surrounds me. But today, I stopped. I just stopped and I thought and I looked.
For those of you who don't know who Julia Albain is, she is a member of Team Starkid and, if you read her blog, you'll see that she's an incredible writer. Today is her 25th birthday, and I was reading back through some of her blog posts to find some quotes to spam my tumblr followers with, and I realised, and I mean really realised, just how much of an inspiration she is to me.
Every single word she writes is so full of meaning that I find it impossible not to find myself thinking: what if it were me writing those words?
Because, really, inspiration is what urges us to change ourselves. I believe that if I can live my life having inspired even just one person the way that she has inspired me, then I have achieved something, but I know to do that I have to change. At this present time, I am lazy. I always wait for inspiration to come to me. But true inspiration is everywhere, if only we all had the perseverance to look for it.
Which is why, I think, everyone has a different mentality: we all have different depths to our perception. But we all have the same capabilities to really see what is around us. It's just that some people think that they are above it, or they can't be bothered to try. They do what is needed and, to them, that is sufficient. Fair enough.
But I'm the sort of person who needs to be inspired. I'm constantly searching for something new to think about, because, to be honest? If I didn't have anything or anyone around me that I could look to for inspiration, I really don't know what or who I would be. Which is why that I'm making a vow to myself that, no matter how busy I am, or how little I can think to write, I'm going to at least try to write at least 2 blog posts every month. Because I'm sick and tired of my own laziness. I am, from now on, going to look for inspiration, instead of just waiting for it to miraculously and spontaneously appear before me.
Because inspiration is what forms us. Inspiration is what moulds our minds and stimulates the creativity that we all have. We just have to see it. It is true inspiration that changes us entirely, that we must somehow learn to shape ourselves with. Inspiration is everyone and everything.
So, here's to inspiration. Here's to friends, words, colour, light, shade, emotion, art, love, buildings, laughter, and, perhaps most importantly, here's to each other. Because I believe that we all have a duty not only to ourselves but to each other, to help each other see the true potential in ourselves, because without inspiration, we are nothing.
Also, as a footnote, a very very happy birthday to the wonderful Julia Albain, who is the person who inspired me to even start this blog in the first place, in the hope that one day, I might inspire someone the way that she has inspired me.
Hannah x
