Confessions of an “Inspirational” Person

in·spi·ra·tion·al

/ˌinspəˈrāSHənl/

Adjective Providing or showing creative or spiritual inspiration.

Synonyms inspiring

(Source: Google)

 

The word inspirational is one that can easily be defined (see above). But, has anyone ever called you inspirational? It should feel good, you’d think. You’d think it would be one of the biggest compliments you could receive. At face value, it means you’ve been able to inspire someone to do better in their life. Seems great, right?

Seems like huge pressure, to me.

Truth: I hate being told that what I’ve done is inspirational.

Based on what I’ve said above, this seems stupid. I know that. But my biggest thing is that beyond face-value, the word inspirational makes me imagine someone greater-than-normal. Someone with great power to move mountains. Someone who you look to for great… well, inspiration. Inspiration for your big life goals and dreams.

I am a normal person and I really don’t feel like what I’ve done is earth-shattering. Especially since, well, I’m not the first to do it. And I can guarantee that this isn’t a permanent thing (see: pregnancy).

I love that I have been able to inspire people to change their lives. But I don’t like being associated with the adjective. Too much pressure and it really is just too big of a word to describe me. Some of the biggest world leaders are inspirational. Me? I’m just me. I’m nothing special! I am special, but like, the derpy kind of special.

Anyway, I have used the word “inspire” enough in this post to make it lose meaning. Awesome.

You should now be inspired to stop calling me inspirational 😛 Just call me awesome instead. I’m down with awesome.