“You inspire me, and I inspire you, and we inspire the world.” – Grouch and Eli

I walk a line between anxiousness/ fear and excitement when something or someone inspires me. What I’ve been wrestling with lately is, “how to respond to inspiration?”

We went to a live performance of Beauty and the Beast last weekend put on by our community theatre, and the entire time I found myself in limbo between enjoying the show as part of the audience combined with this urge to be a part of something like that. What that means I don’t know, but the experience impacted me on a deeper level.

I saw all of these people putting themselves out there, allowing themselves to transform into their characters for the enjoyment of the audience and as an expression of their art. I saw such joy emit from the cast members, I saw excitement from the stagehands and crew, and something stirring inside of me.

Inspiration.

How do I respond to that inspiration, and why does it inspire me? I know that a lot of folks went to that same play, critiqued it, and enjoyed it at face value as entertainment.

But what are we supposed to do when something or someone we encounter moves us on that deeper level?

Option 1: Box up the rush of emotions, the feelings of trying something like that, and the spike of inspiration and put it up on the shelf.

Option 2: Let those emotions, feelings, and thoughts of trying something like that linger; and let them push us to step out into the unknown.

Option 1 is easier in the sense that it requires nothing of us, and option 2 leads to action. I want to be an option 2 guy. If we can let these moments of inspiration linger, then maybe they will speak to us; and maybe we discover ourselves doing something we never thought we could.

I use the play as an example. Inspiration comes in many different forms, and each of us is inspired in different ways. I see people all around who take action on inspiration, and that too inspires me.

So let’s together ride those waves of inspiration as they come our way, and perhaps discover that there may be more to us than we may think.