This page is dedicated to what motivates and inspires me. If you are expecting a page full of platitudes or “meaningful”  phrases superimposed on pictures of skinny people or fat people trying hard then this is not the page for you…anyone can find a picture of an athlete and write “never give up” or “no one ever drowned in sweat” on it…these may all be true, they may be inspiring to some people…they are not inspiring to me. They state the blooming obvious most of the time or are downright patronizing…this page is about real people and real situations and what is making me do what I am doing.

This is all still true, “motivational images are, if anything, more prevalent and more ridiculous than they were in 2013 when I started this blog and the platitudes on pictures are even less motivating to me now than they were then.

I wrote my first inspiration page way back when I started the blog. As with nearly everything on this blog back then (and until about 6 months ago actually) this page was geared towards dancing. Dancing inspired me to be fit, friends who were dancers inspired me to dance better and get fir for dancing.

Needless to say, over the years, my motivations have changed as have my goals! I have come to realise along the way that self motivation is far more important than being reliant on outside factors to do it for you.

Same with inspiration…if you go around waiting until the bolt of inspiration strikes, you may be waiting a long time. You may also find that is strikes when you are in no position to do anything about it and then wears off. It is far better to develop a “lets do it anyway” sort of work ethic

That being said, it is nice to get a boost once in a while (or twice or even three times in a while) and there are some people who not only give me a boost but generally make me feel unstoppable.

The first of these people is my extremely awesome husband of 18.5 years Mr Mark, he seems to be extremely tolerant of my increasingly crazy whims, he has supported me through career changes, more career changes, exercise / photography / more exercise / printing / running / strongperson /whatever else obsessions and most importantly puts up with the fact that every time he disappears from view unexpectedly I think he has (or I have) stepped through a crack into a different universe and no longer exists. Apparently this is not supposed to be my first thought…but it is.
Thankfully the alternate universe thing has never actually happened, because on my own I’d do less and sit at home crying more…

The second person who makes me feel like I could probably do anything, is the utterly fabulous celebrated author, and my best friend Lucy Brazier! Lucy is the author of the PorterGirl Series of books which is brilliant and the increasingly prophetic Who Shot Tony Blair!

Lucy and I “met” on a mutual friend’s blog (Notes from the UK)

I can’t remember the specifics but I believe we bonded instantly over a mutual love for bowler hats. From there I began reading Lucy’s blog and commented incessantly until she became my friend due to exposure saturation.
We met irl when I took my fears and anxieties and kicked them out of the window for a day and went to a filming day in Cambridge for promotional material for the extremely brilliant Who Shot Tony Blair (then) blog (now book). It was a massive step outside my comfort zone, but one I am so pleased I took. Almost from the first moment we met became best friends. Neither of us were terrifying serial killers masquerading as bloggers, which is always a risk, and I now have a friend who has such faith in me that I feel like I can do anything! I have done so much that I just wouldn’t have done if it weren’t for Lucy. I’d never have had a photography exhibition, I’d never have started writing a blog about time travelling otters, I’d never have been the photographer at a fancy book launch! But even more importantly than all of that, I have a friend who can make me feel better just by existing. I have a friend who makes me feel important 😀