Inspiration

Today’s post is all about inspiration and motivation. It is about a thirty old* Andres Idarraga, who ten years ago was arrested and imprisoned for drug dealing. Since then, he has gotten a high school education in prison, paid his debt to society, worked his a** off to get into Brown University and has now been accepted into Law School at Yale. “OK, that’s nice” you might be thinking, “but what does this have to do with me breaking free of MY life?” Well, actually, a lot.

This guy was stuck in prison, where he could have easily done nothing to improve his situation. Yet, he realized rather quickly that if he didn’t make changes to his mind-set he could easily rot away, leaving prison no wiser than when he arrived. But he didn’t. He found “escape from his situation” in the prison library where he read, studied and learned enough to get his GED. Then, after his release, he attempted to enroll in Browns but was denied. That may have stopped some people in their tracks, but he persisted by attending a local college where he did extremely well. He then reapplied to Brown and was accepted, and after a successful four year journey, he’s off to Yale Law. Definitely an inspiring story and a more inspiring individual.

As I was reading this news story I realized that his situation was similar to a lot of us, with the exception hopefully of the drug dealing…:) Up until I became my own boss I fet like I was in a prison-like situation. I always had to be at a certain place at a certain time 5 days a week, nine hours or more a day. My time was definitely not my own and it really bugged me that I couldn’t do what I really wanted to do, which was play and practice guitar. For others it may be another creative outlet like Art or creating your own home-based business.

Now, there are some who don’t mind working for someone else at all. It’s less hassle and you get a steady paycheck that is of a consistent dollar value every two weeks or so. And to them I say “more power to ya!” But what if that’s not you? What if you want more out of your life, something more personal and uplifting. What can you do about your current situation if you want to change it for something better? Let’s look to Andres for a possible answer: “…it’s about having goals and a plan to reach them.”

“We can learn to define our own goals!…How do we get there? It begins by taking small, purposeful, consistent, disciplined steps … if you do not learn to define your own future, you already know that it will be defined for you.“

Beautiful!! It’s all baby steps as we begin to understand who we are, who we want to be and who or what is holding us back from achieving our goals or dreams. When I began my web-design business, I knew that I wasn’t happy where I was at that point in my life. I was going to Graduate School full time and living off of a small TA (teachers assistant) salary. Most people in my position would have been quite satisfied but I knew that there must be something more to life, something that I could call my own, something that would allow me to wake up every morning feeling satisfied and eager to start the day. And more importantly, something that I was in total control of. Out of necessity I quickly figured out what my passions were and how best they could serve me. And less than a month later I had my first client. Now it wasn’t always easy, and there were some rough patches when I was starting out. But I kept at it and haven’t looked back since.

So what are your passions? Can they serve you in a way that can change your life? Can you break free from your life and forge another that is best suited towards your personality, dreams and desires? None of this has to be accomplished overnight and probably would be too much of a shock to the system anyway. Actually, it could possibly take many months or even years to find that “one thing” that allows you to even consider breaking free. Which is fine, since that may be what you need to fully implement a well thought out plan, and to set up a bit of a cash cushion should things not go smoothly at the beginning.

I remember at one of my old jobs a woman named Carole who was nearing fifty. She was a secretary to one of the partners in the Accounting firm that I worked at. All her life she wanted to be involved in the film industry but could never figure out how to get there. So when she was forty and with all the kids on their own, she went back to school as a mature student and took film studies. She took one class a semester, even in Summer and ten years later she graduated with a BA in Film Studies. The next week she handed in her resignation because she had just been offered her dream job at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The day she left was a very emotional one for a lot of the employees she called “work-friends”, and even though I didn’t know her that well I was so proud of her for doing what she wanted by following her passion. It didn’t matter that she was nearing fifty and that it took ten years to accomplish. What mattered was that she decided what and who she wanted to be, found a way to get there, and did it. I dare say that most people, faced with the fact that it would take ten years to get there, would have packed up that dream and went back to the status quo.

The news story on Andres ends with a motivating personal message that reads as follows: “I think that all of us, from whatever circumstances we have, we can make it happen…we can run up against obstacles and analyze and see what’s causing them — and overcome it.”

I too feel this way and I hope you do as well. It’s not easy. It’s difficult to realize that we may not be happy with our current situation. It’s scary to reflect on how we got to where we are and how can we change given that we are the same person as we were yesterday. There’s no easy answer I’m afraid…no matter what the self-help guru’s say to the contrary. But if we begin to take stock of where we want to be and work towards that goal, no matter how long it will take, I truly think we’ll be better for it in the long run. We may never actually get to where we want to be, but at least we “fought back” refusing to settle. All the best.

* Due to story turnover, these links may be outdated when you click on them.