Have you ever been asked, "Who's your inspiration?". Perhaps at a job interview or team-building activity? And your heart starts thumping as your mind races for the "right" answer. Because you know, while there are no wrong answers … some answers are better than others.
Who truly inspires us, and who we claim to be inspired by in a job interview, aren't necessarily always the same person.
My secret inspiration...
Once a year, on International Women's Day, I put on a dress and go out with other women to celebrate.
It's the one day of the year that I wear a dress. Last year, my eight-year-old niece joined me in this tradition for the first time. Her mother had filled her in on the tradition, the what, why, and crucially, the required dress code.
My niece, eager to take part in the adult event, chose her own attire.
Dressed in a green princess dress, mid-calf boots, and a leather jacket, she looked gorgeous! My niece, in her punk rocker princess attire, had utterly nailed the dress code.
After a beautiful brunch, we swung by IKEA to do some shopping, since that's where you go when you're all dolled up on that one day of the year! So here we are, at IKEA, making purchases - myself in a formal navy dress, my cousin in a floral outfit, and my eight-year-old niece in her punk rock princess garb, solving a Rubik's cube.
The last time someone asked me, "Who's your inspiration?", I thought of my niece, who is fearless, intelligent, beautiful, kind, fierce, sporty, funny, and sometimes, just a little bit quirky. My niece's ability to be true to herself is an inspiration to me.
She is who I thought of first, even if it wasn't her name I said out loud.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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