Sunday 25 April 2010

List: Five Things That Inspire Me

Inspiration can come from anything and anyone. I have a list of many things that inspire me, some are deeply personal to me and some are extremely random. Living in a seaside town that has seen better days you can see the beauty that used to be there, it's inspires me to make something of my life. I think I would pull my hair out if I had to live there all my life. It is a nice place but it's a bit too dull for me, love the weather though as it's hardly ever sunny.

One - Music
Music is one of my biggest sources of influence and inspiration. I used to want to be a musician when I was younger along with a long list of other things. I never was the talented musician I wanted to be, I could hold a tune but I would never remember notes unless I had to sing the. All my life I have been surrounded by music. My dad used to play music all sort of music when I was a baby such as Madness, U2, Bon Jovi, etc. 80's rock music has played a big part of my life. Music has always been my escape as has writing and for me the two go hand in hand. Music is full of emotion, hope, desire, hatred. Anything can be portrayed through music.
The bands themselves in several cases have inspirited me. Band likes Muse and Lostprophets are 'home made' if you will and many people see that as their inspiration. For me it's the fact they come from small, almost unknown places. Muse come from a seaside town on the South West coast called Teignmouth and Lostprophets hail from a town just north of Cardiff called Pontypridd. I come from a small seaside town called Morecambe. It is relatively unknown, in my life time we have only been on the news once that I remember and that was 2004 when 21 Chinese cockle picker died. Muse and Lostprophets had a dream and they worked their socks off for it and now they are playing to thousands of people and are internationally known. It gives me hope that if I work for what I want I can achieve it, even if I come from an almost unknown place.

(Lostprophets, image from google images)

(Muse, Image from google Images)
Two – Being the bigger person
Pretty through the whole of my schooling I have been bullied for various things. I have been bullied for various things including the fact I am ginger, I'm half German, I did well in school and I would get involved in school things like student counsel and open evenings. It might be surprising for some people but apart from the bullying school was hard for me. I had to work hard to understand things, I struggled to read aloud – my eyes and brain worked faster than my mouth so my words would crash into each other, and half the time I was too stubborn to admit if I needed help. Being bullied meant I had to learn to be the bigger person and I have. If someone calls me names, I ignore them. Being bullied has inspired me to work harder, to achieve the things I want to do. For me being bullied was partly a positive experience, just because it gave me the desire to work towards a goal not to focus on the negatives of my appearance that one person sees.

Three – My family
My family are the most random, unique and special people I know. I consider myself very lucky to know them. We are all different generations and from different places in the world. There are so many stories within my family that are very inspiring and interesting. An example is my Great Grandfather who fought in WW2 and received a medal for his bravery, for saving the lives of his unit risking his own in the process. You don't hear of stories like that often, you'll see a film based on WW2 where something similar happens but to know a man like that is amazing. Words can't explain how lucky and in awe I feel just to know, let alone be related to someone so selfless.
My family are a wonderful source of influence and inspiration. Without them I wouldn't be the person I am today.

Four - Outside my bubble
The outside world is a curious place. The world in the nineteen years I have been living has changed so much. When I was a child the internet and computers wasn't a big thing. Now at nineteen, computers are a big things, even my Nanna has one and knows how to use it though she does sometimes need help. The world my Grandparents, my mum and my dad grew up in is so different to the world I grew up in. I've basically grown up in fiction. Look at the world and tell me that is not George Orwell's 1984 outside. We're watched, controlled and monitored. Thirty years ago that was unheard of.
We're living in a world that is becoming ever more volatile because we are using and abusing it. We've taken too much from it and now it's lashing back. Many, many people have lost their values. We're money and material obsessed. We want things and we want them now. We want, we use, we break, we dump and then we start the cycle again.
Watching the hate between people; the friction again law and citizens; religion against science; right versus wrong, is a source of inspiration. Makes me think of the 'what ifs'. What if there was no science? What if law didn't exist? What if every right was actually a wrong? What if we didn't actually thing for ourselves? What if we were programmed?
Take a minute and think about it. Stand back and think about what you see, it's interesting to say the least.

Five – Imagine a place where you can soar like an eagle and swim like a fish.
Dreams. With dreams you can be anyone, do anything. Dreams to me are interesting, they can inspire and confuse at the same time. In a dream you can do and believe things that in your conscious state are impossible to do. Dreams provoke ideas; give you the chance to see something from a different view point. In a dream you are free from the normality and control of daily life.