Inspiration 1.0
I’ve always believed that inspiration is a rare gift, and not everyone possesses the ability to ignite it in others. However, I have been lucky to come across three individuals who have managed to do just that. While it may sound remarkable to find inspiration in everyday life, the truth is quite different. It requires a profound source, something that jolts you awake and possesses the potential to transform not only your life but also the lives of those around you.
The first person who inspired me is a long-time friend with whom I have little communication with anymore. We don’t talk at all, truthfully. But aside from that, he was a huge inspiration to me in years that would become formative to the person I would become. I was 21 turning 22 and I remember feeling as if I was living in this space, desperately trying to occupy it. The issue is with what?
I would call him daily just to get the scoop on what how his day was or what he did that at the time he was working for a chainsaw crew in Moab, Utah. I thought it was the coolest thing. I would do the same in Spokane, Washington. Anyway, he would update me on his adventures and FaceTime me, showing me these unreal sunsets Id yet to have seen in my life, the sun peeking over the mesas that surround Moab. I would think to myself, I should be there, somewhere, wherever, watching a sunset, not the place I was at. I can still recall the very phone call and possibly the most important phone call to date in my life, the sound of desperation rang through my voice complaining about how I want to go on this road trip out to Utah but no one wanted to join me as if he had the answers to my problems a state away over the phone. The next words that came out of his mouth changed my life and to this day I still live by them, he sternly tells me, “just come alone, are you never going to go anywhere because you can’t find someone to go with you, man.”
It was a humiliating moment as I realized that despite having successfully traveled solo through Europe, I was still desperately seeking companionship for this trip. Which was my idea. The silence was loud on my end. Not a word, not a rebuttal because I knew he was right, but I was too afraid to admit it. I broke the silence and I can’t remember what I said, but I found myself the next week shoving bags in my 2012 Volvo, hitting the road at 4am, heading to the great state of Utah. I was inspired. That sentence, that phone call. It inspired me. It woke me up from a terrible dream that I was long overdue to be woken up from.
Nothing would prepare for me what was coming next.