I Love Free Soap: Inspired

It’s that time again. Out with the old and in with the new. Habits that is.

A lot of talk of commitments to do better, feel better, be better this time of year. I must say I’ve heard more talk of fear of over-commitment this year than in years past. I guess this makes sense on some levels. You don’t want to over commit. It doesn’t make sense to make unattainable or seemingly unattainable resolutions only to break them and feel worse than when you started. But you have to stretch yourself at least a little, right? Your efforts may not take you to exactly the place you thought, exactly when you thought they would but they will surely take you somewhere.

And somewhere is ALWAYS better than nowhere.

Inspiration is a key ingredient in keeping me on track with my resolutions. Observing others, grown-ups and kids alike, making commitments and sticking to them – to their marriage or to their health or to their book report or to their career or to their baseball swing or to helping a friend through a difficult time – inspires me to actually do the work that I need to do to achieve my goals.

That inspiration helps when I find myself taking that step back in my mind yet again to think about the near and long term implications of my goals. Because there are always bad implications mixed with the good ones, especially in the near term. It's not always easy. You always have to sacrifice something - that's the work part. And that can be a lot. It can be overwhelming, especially when you think about working at whatever it is you are choosing to work at every single day.

Sometimes I have to look for my inspiration. I often read magazine profiles about people overcoming obstacles to achieve their goals and I sometimes read entire books – self-help type books about decision making or raising children or learning to focus on what is essential.

And sometimes inspiration seems to just fall out of the sky.

Like yesterday.

Yesterday, while working away at my desk, I received a call with very special news about a very special little girl in my life. A little girl who has been working very hard every single day to overcome her unique set of challenges since the day she took her very first breath.

Yesterday, she let go of her walker and took her first few steps. All by herself. A feat that at one time her specialists didn’t think she would accomplish until she was six or seven years old, my niece accomplished just yesterday at the age of not quite three and a half.

How’s that for inspiration?

An inspirational quote I like: