What is your inspiration?

Definition of inspiration

The action or power of moving the intellect or emotions, the act of influencing or suggesting opinions, the quality or state of being inspired, an inspiring agent or influence.

What comes to mind when you hear the word inspiration?  When I think of inspiration, I think of people like Mark Wellman the first sit climber to ascend El Capitan, Bob Hoover the greatest pilot to ever live, my junior high physical education teacher and friend Bob Dyer, My friend Nick Hall who inspired me with his example of taking challenge head-on and making it a career, and of course many others. They are just some of the people who have inspired me throughout my life to push myself and try new things.  When I think of them they are somehow larger than life figures that did something world changing, at least changing my world.

The Inspiration For This Post

A couple people I talked to recently actually made me tear up a bit when they expressed to me that I was inspirational to them.  One of them is Bjoern Eser who is the creator of The Active Amputee blog. This is an excerpt from an email exchange we had that totally threw me when I  read it.  “As I told you are one of my heroes that inspired me when I started to look around after my amputation, trying to find out what others are doing. Amputees as well as people with other limb differences. I can’t recall anymore when and where I first heard/read about you, but you sure left an impression.” I have been following Bjoerns’ blog for a long time and his other social media accounts.  I truly love what he does and he is so good at it.  I actually hope to have as well done blog as he has someday. You should definitely click that link and check it out he is amazing.

Another person who I follow on social media, Ryan Kushner, has climbed major peaks all over the world raising money for various causes while doing so.  This is just one of the many amazing stories about his endeavors to make the world a better place Climbers Scale Dhaulagiri to Cure Blindness . I had jokingly asked him if a broken leg counted as the first adaptive ascent of Dhaulagiri a 26,795 ft peak in Nepal. This was after he posted a picture of one of his team Nick Rice who happened to break his leg on this climb. Even after breaking his leg he returned to base camp with help from the team and still set out to reach 7000 meters.  While they didn’t summit I still found it extremely inspiring that Nick decided to try. That question sparked a short conversation. The conversation went as follows below.

Enock:

so does a broken leg count as the first adaptive ascent haha. Congratulations

Ryan:

I ask myself this question when someone tosses that word out, referring to me. I often wonder what I inspired them to do.  What did that inspiration they felt bring to their lives?  I think about the things I have done that they find inspirational, and me, I was just doing something I like doing.  The inspirational people in my life were just doing what they love also, but somehow, I found it inspirational.  Their actions made me think, I want to be like them. I could do what they do. I hope that is what people take away from seeing me doing adventures and pushing boundaries. I want them to believe that they can do anything.  I have a motto I like to tell people that “when you try things happen.” That is truly all I have ever done is try. It hasn’t always worked out the way I planned but I always learn something along the way.  All of those lessons get me that much closer to the goal.  I can always try again with my new found knowledge.

Aim To Inspire!

The next time you are inspired I hope you choose to do something with that inspiration. Maybe you can try something new, do something to better the life of someone else, or volunteer your time.  It doesn’t have to be climbing El Capitan or an 8000-meter peak. You just need to try and make something happen. I would love to hear your stories of inspiration and if you think there is something worth posting, just let me know.