Part of stepping into your greatness, and following your purpose, is becoming an inspiration to others. Do you remember being at school and being asked to write an essay about who inspires you? I’m sure I wrote about Nelson Mandela.
Or maybe you’ve been asked the same question at an interview. It’s a common interview question – because it gives insight into your values, your purpose.
But what does it mean to be inspired?
According to the dictionary, being inspired means that “mentally, you are stimulated to do or feel something”. In simpler terms, if someone was to inspire you to, let’s say, start your own business, then you’d feel motivated enough to try it out for yourself, or at least to take the first few steps.
And even if you don’t act on something that’s inspired you (maybe it’s not the right time!) it will still affect you emotionally. If it’s memorable, thought-provoking, or leaves you a little star-struck, then you know you’ve been truly inspired.
And that can be in a positive uplifting way – or it can be more of a – “oh my god, I have been sleep walking through life and its time to get my *ss in gear” .
That is definitely what happened to me.
But if that person isn’t inspirational, then you most likely won’t feel any effect at all – in fact – you might not even remember what they’ve said later on! And they certainly won’t make any difference to your life.
So, what makes someone inspirational?
Of course, someone can be inspiring for many reasons. Maybe they’re creative, maybe they’re good at making other people happy, maybe they’re brave. Perhaps they are funny, or charismatic or full of optimism and energy. These are all great traits to have! And of course, many would say that they’re inspired by their parents or certain celebrities. That’s great too!
But for me, it’s not as much about the person as the message. When the message seems to be just for me, when you really resonate with it, when you believe it – that’s when I feel inspired.
It was just such a message that I needed to hear, that prompted me to find MY why! Back in 2011, I heard a speaker who seemed to ask (just) me this question:
“If you were to die tomorrow, who would mourn your loss?”
I realised the answer was ….not that many people. And it made me sad to think I would have so little impact on the world.
After that, I began my own journey to find my own WHY – and that is to help inspire others to search for their own WHY. And since then I have helped thousands of women to find, live and share their WHY.
So, I guess you could say I was pretty inspired!
Sharing Your WHY
There is a reason why I say, ‘Find Your WHY, Live Your WHY, Share Your WHY!’ Once you have found your WHY, you will know what your purpose is, and be able to live the life you were born to live.
But not everyone will have found their purpose yet – so that’s where you come in! I’m not saying that you’ll be able to tell them their life purpose of course, but what you CAN do is share your story of how you found your WHY, and how it changed your life – because I guarantee it will also change theirs. There are people out there right now this second, who need to hear what you have to share.
Now, you can’t do this if you don’t know your own WHY yet. So, here’s how I can help you with that – by giving you the first step for free. All you have to do is fill out a 2-minute questionnaire (click here!), and then you’ll receive a genetic blueprint customised especially for you – showing exactly who you are and how you function. You’ll be surprised by how accurate it can be!
You can also feel inspired by others in our Live Love Laugh Lounge, by hearing stories and thoughts from a community of WHYs Women. Or check out our YouTube Channel where you will find lots of TEDx and TEDx style talks here. If you’re interested, reach out to me at cheryl@cheryl-chapman.com!
Here’s to you – you inspirational woman!