Last weekend I was visiting my old college town. I am not going to get into the reason why, but it is always an interesting feeling when I go back. I miss it, yet I am also glad that I still don’t live there, because I know my time there was for college. I don’t think I could live there again – for some reason it would just feel weird, like I had never grown up and started my post-college life. Of course, you can “never say never”, but it seems that if I have any say I would not live there again. But I do like visiting for several reasons, one of which is the inspiration I get from it.
It may seem funny that I would be inspired by a place that I would not plan to live in again, but I actually think that is the reason why I am inspired by it. If I lived there all of the time, I would not be as inspired, it would just become a part of daily life. So, it is the being away and visiting that inspires me. I imagine it probably feels this way in most college towns, but what inspires me about my old college town is how there always seems to be so many new ideas floating around. It is a place where things are being discovered and researched. It is a place where innovation is actually being acted upon. This really is not surprising – I’m sure I just generalized every college town. But, since this was my town for a period in my life, I remember that feeling of starting a new year or semester. The promise of learning new insights and advancing my knowledge. I loved the sense of possibility and potential, and that is what still inspires me today. Of course, I get inspiration from other people, places, and things, but this is something that has stood out because of my recent visit.
How about you? What places inspire you? What people or things? Inspiration can be a wonderful thing in helping to see the potential and possibility in your life.