Inspiration.

Sometimes it’s hard to find inspiration. Like for instance when I started this blog 30 times, I never actually started it because I felt like I needed to wait until I was completely and totally immersed in inspiration and writing good stuff or just writing stuff that I would want to look back  on and read. 

Being a mom, I am always trying to inspire my kids to use their imaginations, enjoy just being a kid, and to learn how to reach their full potential without me telling them how. 

It’s easy to inspire others. But why is it so hard for me to inspire myself? 

I have been blessed with 2 phenomenal sisters (cue tears) they are my best friends. We have our disagreements, our inside jokes, and we have borrowed an article of clothing or 4 from each other over the years and never returned it. 

Me, Lydia, and Sarah

Either way they have been two of my biggest inspirations. 

They have inspired me to be a good big sister and good little sister, and to show my daughters that having sisters is so much fun, they have showed me that family can be your best friends. 

Recently my two sisters have both had huge successes. My oldest sister recently graduated from cosmetology school, and my little sister just graduated from high school. 

I know it doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary of success, but it’s their journey leading up to their success and their future endeavors that are what inspire me the most. 

Oldest: Sarah is a powerhouse singer, she has been singing her entire life even had a band and used to perform gigs, she is a hard worker and was always out working and doing what she needed to do as an adult. She excelled in corporate America, and was a top customer service employee- but one day Sarah decided that she wanted to do not what she had to do, but what she needed to do. So she quit her job and did just that. It terrified me when she did that because I’m like but, life…and adulting…like you have to do that because…you just have too. I soon learned to greatly appreciate having her more available! She has always been there for me and I am so grateful for that. One day, Sarah decided that being a cosmetologist was her next step….she even kept it a secret for fear of people judging her…when she told me I was excited! I was like wow….what a spontaneous thing to do! I am all about spontaneity! She would be in school everyday for 10 months….I was pregnant at the time and I did the math and thought…hmm that’s not long at all! She would simply be pregnant with her dream of being a hair and makeup stylist, then she would give birth to said dream and it would grow and be such a wonderful, and exciting adventure. 

Fast forward to beginning of this month (July) Sarah announced she would be graduating and she wanted everyone to be there! She then told stories of how much of an inspiration she was to her peers and she didn’t know it. She also told us about how much joy she had. She was genuinely and completely happy and satisfied that God had allowed her to live out her dream. She took the biggest leap of faith and it gave her so much more than she ever imagined. 

I told her I envied that feeling she had. Before her graduation, I told her (via text because I would have been crying)  how proud I was of her, how I was envious of her sheer joy in doing what she loved and how fulfilling her life was being able to accomplish something like cosmetology school at 31. I told her how inspiring she was that she was able to listen to God, follow him freely and completely and make it to the end of her journey. The following day she graduated, and I couldn’t stop thinking of how proud of her I was. 

The grad!

Youngest: Lydia is the youngest of the bunch and she is a silent storm yet she is very loud…I know it’s a conundrum, but it’s true. She is a musician. She can play the saxophone, snare drum, upright bass, and recently picked up playing the marimba. None of these instruments coincide with the other and yet….she can play them all. She started playing in middle school and discovered marching band…yes, she has those…”one time…at band camp” stories…lol!  From there she flourished into a well rounded musician tackling reading hard compositions, long practics, private lessons, and carrying around heavy cases.

 How is this inspiring…sounds like typical high school stuff right? 

Well, it’s how she began all of this…none of us play instruments, I have tried to play the piano but my chubby hands thought I should stop doing that. Anyways, she learned the saxophone, joined the band-while doing that she decided she wanted to learn how to play the snare (the hardest of the percussion instruments) and as a freshman gave herself the goal that in her sophomore year she wanted to be a snare player (this normally takes years for someone who has never picked up a drum to play the snare) she accomplished her goal. By her junior year, she was the lead snare! But she didn’t stop there, midway through the summer before her junior year she decided to switch it up completely and she wanted to learn how to play the double bass/upright bass. All the while still playing the sax, and snare! 

I know right!? Woodwind to percussion, to….orchestra bass player? 

Well she did it and she was 2nd chair in the orchestra and has been playing for 2 years! 

What accomplishments! What bravery! What skill! What an inspiration. She set her mind on something, believed she could learn and master it and she did it! And at such a young age too! Now she is off to college to play the bass and develop her craft even more. 

So I bet you’re wondering…why are they such big inspirations? You went to college Angel, you can do this, you are a mother, you have accomplished some things….

Yes. All of those things are correct but at my little sisters age, I was a lazy person…I had the drive and the fight but in college I didn’t work as hard as I should have…and I suffered greatly. My older sister took a HUGE leap.of faith and did what she wanted to do…something she loved no matter what people thought, and that terrifies me. I am only 28 almost 29 years old. I have been to college, I have gotten married, I have had 3 kids….WHAT ON EARTH WOULD I BE THINKING IF I DID SOMETHING LIKE THAT? Something…for me. Something…I loved to do? 

I have a HUGE list of things I love to do, want to do, can do, should be doing…and I don’t do the stuff…why? Because….kids….or money….or time…or whatever…and  that pains me. 

But my sisters have inspired me. They are the reason I started small on my list of things that I want to do and started this blog. I can only hope and pray I can leap fully and just let God show me the rest….

What or who inspires you?  Have you really thought about that? I challenge you to do so. It’s eye opening when you do. 

Blessings ♡