I was asked by the Platform editors to write a post for International Women’s Day about a woman or women who inspire me. Excellent, thinks I; there’s gotta be dozens of women I’d like to write about. So I put my thinking cap on and set about deciding who I’d like to write about.
I thought of my mother instantly, as I’m sure a lot of people would, but changed my mind. It’s such a cliché and I don’t need to write a blog post about my mother to let her know how much she inspires me and how much I admire and respect her; if she doesn’t already know then I resolve to tell her more often.
I then started thinking of famous people; authors, scientists, film stars etc and just couldn’t think of any one or two people I wanted to name specifically. My fickle nature sees me admiring a different person every week, my current favourite being Lisa Simpson so that should tell you something.
Still smiling
Then someone popped into my head out of the blue and I thought ‘bingo!’, she’s just the ticket! I’ve known this woman forever, we’ve been through a lot together and I’ve watched her hit troubles in her life and come through the other end still smiling. It’s not that she’s done something amazing with her life which makes her an inspiration to me, but it’s the little things she’s done with her life so far, her attitude towards her future and her drive to succeed which is truly inspirational. She’s got a very go-get-‘em approach to things which at times really gives me a boost.
Has anyone figured out yet that I’m talking about myself?
Well I am. I inspire me. I’ll attempt a logical explanation though so you don’t all think I’m a narcissistic self-absorbed loon.
Chasing after a university education
When I was about six years old I finally learned to ride a bike. My parents bought me a cute little red bike and tried with incredible patience to teach me to ride it. They tired after days on end of me screaming “DON’T LET GO DON’T LET GO!!” and went back in the house to regain their karma. Half an hour later I rode past the living room window on my mother’s adult-sized shopper bike and waved at them. To this day I’m a very keen mountain biker and love nothing more than riding up a big hill then hurtling down the other side.
When I was about 14 years old I got really into music and started going to gigs in the city with friends. A friend and I decided we’d like to start up a music fanzine and so I set about writing to loads of record and music management companies. Pretty soon we were getting free tickets to loads of gigs up and down the country, invites to album launch nights, loads of free CDs and merchandise though the post and invites to interview the bands we were going to see. It was an amazing thing for a 14-year-old to be involved in and I loved every single minute of it. My days as a teen journalist make me chuckle now that I write for Platform.
When I was 23 I decided that messing up my A Levels was no excuse for not chasing after the university education I always dreamed of getting and so alongside working full time and earning barely enough to live on let alone enough to pay for a degree I enrolled with The Open University and started working towards an undergraduate degree. I finish that degree in less than four months, have three months off then start working straight away on a Masters degree.
Three things out of probably dozens in my life which, at the time, didn’t seem like anything particularly noteworthy but I look back on them now and I’m so proud of myself for the things I’ve achieved or experiences I’ve given myself. The young me who achieved so much inspires the present me to maintain that attitude. And the mental image I have of the future me inspires the present me to carry on and fuels the drive and fervour in me to succeed.
I don’t want to have to put someone else on a pedestal for things they’ve achieved; my personality is such that I wouldn’t be inspired by someone like that anyway, I’d just be jealous of them which isn’t a particularly constructive emotion. So instead I choose to see myself as an inspiration; it’s not self-absorbed or narcissistic in the slightest, it’s just that if you’re gonna believe in someone, the best possible person for that to be is yourself.
Who inspires you? Help celebrate International Women's Day by blogging about the woman or women who inspire you. Let the Platform team know about your post by emailing platformeditor@open.ac.uk and they'll link to your blog post from the International Women's Day group on Platform.
