Quotes to Motivate and Inspire

I have an amazing life. Be jealous. My husband is phenomenal. It's truly disgusting. He's hardworking, intelligent, interesting, handsome, and he doesn't know it, but he's also a lot of fun to be around. If that's not enough, he's an awesome father. The kids have their ups and downs as all kids do, but for the most part, they pretty much rock. My son is this brilliant, bright little boy who just gets along with everyone so well and even in the midst of a day of fighting and general horribleness (like yesterday) he tells me that he loves me. Last night, at dinner, he said, "Thank you, mom, for all the wonderful things you do." Can you get over that? And the little one, well, it's hard to know what she's going to be like, but so far, she's pretty awesome too. Her smiles don't just light up the room, they light up the whole block. Beyond my family, I love my house, I love my work, and I love my life in general.

Work, though, that's what has gotten me started on this blog post. I've dabbled in a few different things since I started working from home almost six years ago. I started doing marketing and freelance writing, then really focused on writing for a while, then really focused on marketing for a while. Last year, I started my own business selling hair bows, then I turned back to freelance writing, which is my first and true love. As a freelancer, I have the ability to write on a variety of topics, from traveling abroad to financial advice to an HVAC product guide, and for the most part, I love it all.

Today I am challenging myself. Generally I focus on topics that I find very interesting or that apply to my everyday life. Our family is going back to Disney World this summer, thus I've written several articles on Disney and the Orlando area. I have also been writing a great many fitness and clean eating pieces lately and have a regular client that asks for articles about running and road racing. All good. However. today I step outside myself and into a world of great feelings and emotion. I'm asked to find inspiring quotes and phrases that will help people to find the strength inside themselves to travel on the path of stuff. Or whatever. You see, I'm not that person. "Inspiring Quotes" don't inspire me. I find them silly. In fact, if you visit my Facebook page you'll see my personal quotes are:

"Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck." - Joss Whedon
"Quem corre por gosto nao cansa." (He who runs for pleasure never tires.)

That is not to say that I cannot be inspired; I am just inspired by different things. I am inspired by a clear, blue sky. I am inspired by staring at the moon, by listening to the birds in the spring, by watching my children laugh and play. I am not inspired by something someone said at sometime, probably to try to impress someone or make a fast buck. To me, words are fairly empty. Nature is real. Action is meaningful. Words are just words.

So today, my challenge is to be inspired by words. My challenge is to find these motivational quotes that I can not only share with the world (or with this one client who may or may not end up publishing the article at all), but perhaps that I can even use myself. Today I should squelch the cynic and instead choose to allow myself to feel something cheesy and insipid. Today, I should choose to be inspired.