4 Ways To Deal With Our Increasing Need For Inspiration

Everywhere I go, I see inspirational quotes. Social media, mailbox, apps. Even my accounting software presents an inspirational quote when I log in. These quotes remind me to rest, to take care of myself, to love myself even when I fuck up, to be true to myself, to appreciate what I have, to remember that growth is a process, that bliss is inside of me, that pain is a part of life, and so on.

Instagram accounts that solely focus on inspirational quotes have hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions of followers. They get as many followers as mega-celebrities. You know what I’m talking about.

A while ago, there was a big commotion around a study that implied that people who are receptive to inspirational quotes are less intelligent. Later it was revealed that this was not what the study actually said, but I think this is not the point. The point is, why do we need to be constantly inspired? And what did our parents, grandparents, and ancestors do without inspirational quotes?

When we come to think about it, there are some major differences between us and previous generations that can explain our increasing need for inspirational quotes.

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How life is today

Life today is more demanding. Let’s face it. Our parents wanted to have jobs, money, a family, a house. We need to be professionally fulfilled, have meaningful love relationships, raise kids that are nourished, loved and confident, find time for spiritual practices and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Spiritual people of old times had teachers to keep inspiring them on their paths. They lived in small groups with their fellow students and teachers. They had a direct and personal experience of inspiration.

But I think the most significant difference between us, and people of time past is that we need to have a public persona.

A public persona is something that was once reserved for royalty. Later on, the public spotlight shone on politicians and movie stars, renowned scientists, authors, and artists. Most people lived within the confines of their families and small communities. They did not have to care about profile pictures. They did not need to find creative ideas for posts, stories, and reels every other day. They did not have to persistently expose themselves.

Is it a wonder that we need to be frequently inspired?

The effect of being a public persona

Today it’s all about how many videos you can make, how many articles you can publish, and how many podcasts and summits you can attend. You need to be an ever-flowing spring of creative ideas. You need to offer so much that you must have a special app to manage the multiple links on your Instagram bio.

We are lucky to have the opportunity to succeed as creators. Most of the people before us had to deal with pretty boring jobs. We are lucky to be able to make money with passion, doing what we love to do most. But this privilege comes at a price.

Famous, inspiring writers used to take years to complete a book. They did not need to be creative-producing machines. Some days were creative, and some were not. Is it realistic to ask of ourselves so much? And how can we deal with it in a sane way?

Here are some ideas.

1. Remember that some days you are brilliant and some days you are not. Allow this rhythm to flow. There are things you can do on days when you don’t feel creative. You can edit texts you already started when you were creative. You can deal with your finances, network with people, study something new, listen to a podcast, take a walk in nature, or meditate. Then, inspiration will come to you naturally.
2. Allow yourself to have downtime, away from the public eye. Remember that you exist even when no one else is watching. In astrology, your public persona is represented by a point in your chart called Midheaven, or MC. But you also have your sun personality, your moon personality, your rising personality. These are all parts of you that might be very different from your public persona. Having public downtime can help you connect with these other parts of your personality.
3. Have a list of ideas. Whenever an idea comes up, write it down. You don’t have to instantly work on it, but when you lack inspiration, you can find your inspiration on your own list.
4. And finally, allow yourself to be inspired by inspirational quotes. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are not intelligent if you like them. You need them, we all do because we live in a world of opportunities that is also very demanding in ways we’ve never known before.