Day 212 Question 212:

Where have you found inspiration?

I return to this question a lot.  It is without a doubt my favorite question to answer because there is SO much to find inspiration in.  I admit to not tuning into the Olympics this year.  I am not much of a sports person and with the little free time I had I was at the gym working on my jogging skills to prepare myself for my first ever 5k or I had my nose buried in books.  I do catch the morning news on occasion and I kept hearing all of this hype over an ad put out by Nike during the Olympics that featured a 200 pound boy running up a road and the narrator speaks that greatness comes in all shapes and sizes.  I was shocked to find out that people were speaking negatively about this ad, insinuating the Nikes was poking fun at this young boy.  I found great inspiration in this ad…as I am sure many people young and old did.

I have to say that I love the direction that Nike takes then they develop their advertisements.  When people think of Nike, there is this immediate image of people with athletic bodies…the perfect athlete.  Yes, Nike does feature these people in their campaigns but they also feature the “average, everyday Joe”….they feature the child soldier from Africa that pursued his dreams to become an Olympic runner or the 200lb boy that has decided to make a healthy change in his life…and even the woman that says “Screw what everyone else says my body should look like…I want to be healthy”.  It is very inspirational to see such a HUGE brand take on the issues of the world and not only promote physical health but also emotional health.  Nike does not market to just a small group of people and that is a breath of fresh air.

I am inspired by a multimillion dollar company that is able to appeal to the entire population instead of just some small sub-populations.  I am inspired that they do not focus on always picking the people with the perfect bodies or the perfect lives for their ads.  Nike tells the stories of their consumers….the journey to GREATNESS!!

I do not know the ins and outs of the Nike corporation.  I am simply going by what I have been exposed to.  Inspiration for me comes in endless forms.  It is inspiring to see a 12 year old boy take the bull by the horns and decide to change his life (to a healthier lifestyle).  I love to see the “underdog” succeed or beat the odds.  I love to see the kid that was told he can’t his/her entire life prove to the world that he/she CAN and will!!!  I am so inspired by the people that makes mistakes and own up to them or the people that may not have made the best choices but are choosing to turn their lives around.  It is very easy for someone to criticize people for their behaviors but it seems so much harder for them to praise the people when they make changes for the better.  I have experienced this first-hand.  Who I am in comparison to who I was are two completely different people and a lot of people still see me for who I was and not who I am in this very moment.  That is ok though because it is me that knows the improvements and the changes in my life to make each day just a little bit better.  After watching this 12 year old boy on the Nike ad, I never saw a little boy that was fat and lazy…I saw a little boy that was determined to make a change.  That is a very beautiful thing…especially at that age when kids can be so cruel.  He did something that was inevitably going to get him ridicule and after watching him on 2 talk shows I was impressed how he chose to continually fight for what he believed in….bettering his health.  I love the expression: Always stand up for what you believe in even if that means standing alone!  I am inspired by children/teens all of the time…the children/teens that do what they can to better their lives but also the children/teens that choose acts of selflessness.  Nothing is more beautiful than to see a young person serve others without the expectation of anything in return.