Throughout my wellness journey I have kept a quote on my fridge that I look at every day. I keep it as a reminder. I also use it as an affirmation to begin the day. The quote: “It’s not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves” is attributed to Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Mount Everest along with Tenzing Norgay. There is nothing sentimental to me about it, but it serves as both a reminder and inspiration to grow and be better each day. The thing is, we never know who’s watching, but we can be an inspiration to others.
What Inspires You
I was not alive when Hillary and Norgay summitted Mount Everest, in fact, I wouldn’t be born until over 30 years later. Yet, their story serves as an inspiration to me. I’m not a mountain climber, but I do love being outdoors and pushing myself to new limits. What inspires me about their feat is that they accomplished what was thought to be impossible and there are still many who try to summit Everest, but the success rate it low. Their story is about trying, trying again, pushing it one more time and finally reaching the epitome. What stands out to me more is, they didn’t stop there. They embraced their success, used it to support others and still pushed themselves while inspiring others, like me, to try something that seems unachievable or impossible.
When I first started this blog, I wrote about finding something that pushes you or inspires you. If you’re like me, there might be many things that inspire you. You’ll probably have new experiences throughout your journey that continue to push you forward. Those experiences may come from the most unexpected or unlikely places. The drive just might come from the very people you’re pushing yourself to inspire. There have been a couple of occurrences over the last year involving my nephew that has made me realize how important the idea of “be an inspiration” can really drive you. He was one of the reasons behind me starting this journey and still doesn’t know it.
Encounters of Inspiration
I don’t make it back home very often since moving in 2023 for my job. While I was working on my PhD I was fortunate to spend quite a bit of time with most of my nieces and nephews. This allowed me to develop a close relationship that sometimes can come across as a little too honest. Let’s just say, they’re pretty comfortable asking me about almost anything.
Most of our conversations revolve around typical things children and young people tend to ask. However, they show interest in my weight loss. Some of the questions can be embarrassing, especially related to my loose skin. But I’m honest with them and share that this is a side effect of losing a lot of weight. See, my two oldest nephews grew only knowing me in a bigger body. They heard many of the comments made to me, but they were also always fascinated by my travels and photography. Now, they see the change and hear people talking about it. I’m sure their minds at times are trying to digest a lot. Therefore, I’ve made it a point to be honest when they ask.
Recently, one nephew, who is infatuated with sports, started asking me questions about my running habit. When I was home on winter break we were attending a basketball game and he started bragging to the people in front of us about how his aunt had just ran a half marathon and runs several miles a week. I’ll admit, I was kind of embarrassed, but proud because I could see and hear the pride as he talked about my weight loss and running.
A few months later he was spending the night at my parents’ house because I was home. I was planning to go running the next morning and he started asking about going with me and how far I was running. He decided that he wasn’t going to run the eight miles with me, but asked if I would come get him for the last few. Our run didn’t work out due to a thunderstorm, but the excitement of joining me was cool. We also started talking about my goal of running a marathon. He had all kinds of questions that we spent hours discussing and looking up information. These two instances struck me that he was not only excited, but I was inspiring him. Neither of us truly recognized it.
You Might Not Know Who You’re Inspiring
When I set out on this journey, one of my goals was to inspire my nieces and nephews, along with my students. I never really paid close attention to whether this was happening. Inspiration often comes through our actions. Even though we may want to inspire someone, that’s not at the forefront of why we’re actually doing something. The purpose of my journey was to gain control of my mental and physical health.
There are times where I’ll have random people from my past, or occasionally on social media, who will tell me how impressed they are with my journey. Often, people want to ask questions or congratulate me, but on occasion go deeper. I’ve had experiences where people have told me that through seeing my transformation they’ve decided to either attempt something they’ve never done or take up doing something they gave up awhile ago. These occurrences may be in passing or happen over long periods of time. What I’ve learned, even when you think no one is really paying attention, you never know who’s watching.
Keep Pushing. Keep Inspiring
Whether you’ve had the experiences I’ve had or not, that doesn’t mean you’re not inspiring someone. Starting a wellness journey should first be about supporting yourself. Part of that support might involve getting healthier to have a closer relationship with someone, like your children. That is a perfect reason to do better for yourself. Just know, even if we think the journey is a private one, someone is watching and noticing. As we change, people notice. Good or bad. We don’t have to summit Mount Everest to be an inspiration. Sometimes it’s the things we take for granted or are doing for ourselves that cause us to be an inspiration for others.