“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
How you play the game inspires others
One of my mother’s favorite sayings when I was a kid was, “For when the one great scorer comes to write against your name, he writes not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game.” She seemed to repeat it any time she wanted to win a conversation, and she didn’t pay much attention to whether it pertained to the situation or not. But even though she used this famous quote in inappropriate situations, it has stuck with me all of these years and continues to be a mainstay in society, particularly in the sports world. What kid has not heard that quote after acting like a sore loser in their weekend soccer game?
I was always taught to play nice, share, be fair and of course to be a gracious loser. Considering my sporting ability as a kid, losing was something that was commonplace for me although I never really enjoyed it. There was always something that nagged at me to try harder, be better and for goodness sakes, win for a change. I never tried less than my best, but the whole hand – eye coordination thing seemed to have skipped a generation with me, despite my father having sporting abilities that just came natural to him.
Your experiences uncovered the true person you are
When I look back on my life and think about who inspired me, challenged me and molded me into the person I am today, it is hard for me to single out any one person that had an overwhelming influence on me. I am a believer that your upbringing, the situations you encounter, and other life experiences that you are a part of are what make you the person you are, with the morals and decision-making skills that you have. The person I am today is an amalgamation of the experiences and situations that shaped me along the many years of learning that I have under my belt. I believe this is the same for others. For example, if someone inspired you to give people a second chance, likely you took that lesson to heart and made it a part of your mantra even to this day. Personally, I was always taught to look for the good in people; to trust their intentions were positive and their purpose was pure.
Some people believe in something called destiny meaning that their path, actions and circumstances have been pre-written and they are simply living out what the master plan expects them to. I have never subscribed to the idea of destiny, always feeling that my plan was yet to be determined because I had not yet chosen it. I have always been a believer that I am the one in control and that luck is not something that happens, but something that is generated by my hard work and perseverance. I believe that what I decide to do with my life and purpose will have a significant influence on how that becomes reality in my daily life.
We are all motivated by different things in our lives. Some people are motivated by a higher calling, and some are motivated to serve others. Some are motivated by a desire to raise children while others focus on helping those who cannot help themselves.
Animal rescue is a bond that unites us together
For those of us in animal rescue, we share a common bond, a collective goal, and a laser-like purpose for helping animals. From the Doobert home page, you can easily see why I created Doobert and what the purpose of Doobert’s existence is. Yes Doobert is all about the animals but we are driven by the notion that “Passion, purpose and perseverance will overcome fear, uncertainty, and change as we work together to create a world where sentient beings co-habitate and live together in unity.”
You inspire me to persevere
The truth is that YOU inspired me to create Doobert. Like many others before and many yet to come, I stumbled into the animal rescue world and was lucky enough to have some people take me under their wing, and showed me how things worked. From the beginning Doobert was about ‘animal rescue made simple’ because we know that animal rescue will never be easy and we know that there will be lots of happy days and sad ones. There will be inspiring stories, and stories that will make us mad; chances to celebrate as a community and opportunities to shine in our own light.
Who you decide to be and how you decide to act are choices that are entirely up to you. Just by the fact that you are a part of this community you are inspiring me to do more for the animals. I never thought that technology could bring people together in a common goal and cause for animals but I am proud of the fact that it does.
Think about how you inspire others and how you challenge them to decide who they really want to be. What motivates you to inspire others? What do you do to motivate them to act on their passion? How will you continue to inspire me?
