All of us have expectations from our respective lives. A goal that we want to achieve, places that we want to visit, problems we want to solve, purposes we want to fulfill etc. Every year, we take stock of those or add some more to those lists.

We all have heroes and superheroes whom we idolise, worship and want to model our lives on. We want to be like them, have an impact on the world like they do, and be able to live like them. These heroes are people who seem to have achieved their big goals.

We read books, both fiction and non fiction that inspire us to take those bigger steps. The ones that take us closer to the goals and expectations of our lives. There are motivators that speak on big stages that inspire us to, maybe, leave an uninspiring job and chase your dreams.  

It is important to have those big goals and a sense of purpose to our lives. But then, it is all done one day at a time, one step at a time.

Those people help us /coach us to make those life altering decisions. But then, we don’t have to take big steps or make those big decisions everyday, do we? Every day is about doing the mundane things, crossing items from your daily checklists and yet, feeling productive at the end of every day. Have a sense of peace and achievement at the end of every day. 

What motivates us to do things every day? The job that we do every day, the chores that have to be done daily, solving the problems that keep popping up every now and then (the small ones, the medium ones and the big ones) and then do it every day, day after day. 

So, on a daily basis, we need some of those relatable characters or what I would like to call as personal heroes to motivate us. They are the ones that push us to do our everyday things. Whenever we feel low doing our day to day things, we don’t think of Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King to feel inspired. We have to look at that next door neighbor, or that energetic, hardworking friend  or that distant cousin or uncle or parent, who has braved it all, for our inspiration. 

Lessons that we learn from those personal heros are so much more relatable because we know that we share similar circumstances with them ( definitely much more than we did with those superheroes that we idolize). We do not have to save the world like superman or spiderman had to do. But we have to hold our fortress just like our next door neighbor has to do. So, if that person can do it so well, why not make him/her our personal hero and draw inspiration from them. 

Another strategy that really helps me, is thinking of people who have attributes that I really admire. For example, when I don’t feel motivated to do a particular task, I think of that friend (personal hero) who does that task so well. I further think of how well she would have done it, and I end up doing it to the best of my abilities. I draw inspiration from that person to do a task that I would have otherwise tried to avoid. 

Listening to the stories of people in and around our lives and picking up strength from those stories is what keeps us going on a day to day basis. Because, how can we take those big steps if we cannot pull ourselves through every day, day after day. 

As I write this blog, I remember all my personal heroes,  who have motivated me to get through the highs and lows of my life by just living their life the way they have. I consider them as important as those motivators who inspire us to find the purpose of our lives. 

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