I heard recently that people don't motivate, they inspire. The speaker went on to say that inspiration is external, but motivation is internal. I had never thought of this before and realized that I always likened motivation and inspiration to be somewhat the same.
Motivation is defined as the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. It is the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. However, inspiration is defined as an exalting influence, producing a feeling or thought in others. It means to fill or affect with a specified thought or feeling.
When comparing the definitions, I realized how true the first statement was. Motivation comes from somewhere inside you, but often it is inspired and influenced by others.
I was thinking about this in terms of my motivation to run this upcoming half marathon. I was inspired by a few people and that inspiration motivated me to not give up. Had it not been for several people in my life, I would have quit this running thing months ago. As it is, the half is in 3 days and although I'm a bit nervous, I'm ready. I'm ready because I was inspired to not give up. Kaia, Tandi, Shannon and Britt all gave me the inspiration I needed to continually motivate myself even when I didn't really want to. They didn't motivate me. I had to do that for myself. However, it was their constant encouragement, their excellent suggestions, the crazy cleanse and even a kick in the pants now and again that helped me on this journey towards motivation.
I am grateful for their inspiration and because of it, I have found a mental and physical strength that I didn't know I possessed.
Perhaps we shouldn't have motivational speakers, but inspirational ones, yes?
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