Inspire, aspire, perspire*

In my Facebook News Feed today. . .
(Is using the official Facebook terminology a sign of corporate brainwashing, like saying grande at Starbucks instead of medium?)

I used to make a point of refusing to say tall, etc., but now I think, "What exactly am I proving and to whom?" The baristas––I mean the cashiers––never blink or wince or correct me; it's all the same to them, and it ends up making ME feel like the dope, all high and mighty about ordering my iced decaf.

. . . was a link to a 5-minute video of highlights from the "She Roars" event of late April--my first "small adventure," as recorded in these pages.

How quickly the feeling came back to me! Just watching the slideshow of photos and hearing snippets of the addresses by President Tilghman, Justice Sotomayor, and Andrea Jung (CEO of Avon)––I got a fresh jolt of the feeling of inspiration that characterized those three days at Princeton. We women came to Princeton "born to lead, taught to soar"––I feel both aspects are debatable in my case, but I also realize that it's common to think of oneself as the exception to what seems to be the norm in this kind of high-achieving peer group––and being among them again for that weekend, the pervasive feeling of purpose and power rubbed off.

But then, as most things do, it faded. Seeing the video today reminded me of it.


Coincidentally, my commemorative "She Roars" scarf arrived in the mail this afternoon.

Very pleasing design and lovely silk.

I think I will keep the scarf in sight here, where it can serve as a physical reminder of the She Roars inspiration and my still-nebulous aspirations. (In Weight Watchers––and probably in behavior modification therapy, too, which is what WW is mostly based on––they call that an anchor: a physical object or other cue that you can associate with your goal and use to help remind you of it.)

Today's moral, then, is that it's good––necessary even, I'll venture––to keep being exposed to sources of inspiration, because one exposure––no matter how awesome and monumental and a-ha to the maxxx it feels––is not going to be enough. You get all pumped up and motivated from hearing the coach's pep talk, and that gets you through the first period/quarter/inning/heat/set, but then something goes not-quite-right and you lose your mojo, and everything goes to hell, and you're back on the bench/in the dugout/penalty box and you can't remember what was so inspiring, and is there any more buttercream frosting?

So: Inspiration needs to be applied repeatedly, like sunscreen.

Unless, I imagine, if God talks to you through a burning bush. That probably sticks with you.

Not a burning bush. But isn't it nice? Sparklers on the 4th!

*I thought I made this up. I mean, I DID make it up; it just so happens I'm not the ONLY person to have made it up. Inspire, aspire, perspire are what one blogger calls the "Three Spire's of Great Leadership" (sic on that apostrophe, by the way), another's idea of 3/5 of the "5 Spires of Leadership" (the others being conspire and transpire--what about expire?), the ad campaign for Summit Natural Drinking Water ("the official water of Philippine Olympic athletes"), and the brilliant idea of about 693,000 other geniuses like me.