Meet my sources of inspiration

A celebration of people who dare to share their powerful stories

Nov 26, 2023

The last weeks I have been contemplating the way forward with my blog and business (in a very good and positive way, so many good things are heading your way in the next weeks). Meanwhile still keeping up with writing my weekly posts and hosting the monthly meetups. Continuing business and writing at the same time sometimes brings me in a place of confusion. I am not completely ready to share my future ideas and still want to keep sharing my inspiration and the things I go through.

This week I was scrolling through the drafts in my blogs and I found this piece that just really fits the theme of last weeks, inspiration. Sometimes, when you are lost for words, it is nice to have people share their stories and just read. Therefore this post is a celebration of my sources of inspiration. Starting with a nice photo found on the amazing website Unsplash. That always seems to have the right picture for my mood or the blog I’m writing.

I love to read your sources of inspiration (on this amazing network), so leave a comment and share what you love!

Substack inspiration

Scott Stabile

is the writer who inspired me to make the move to Substack earlier this year. After listening to a conversation between him and Lee Harris I decided to look him up on the internet and found his Substack,

Bigger Love with Scott Stabile

. It was the first publication I subscribed to and since then Scott is still on my favorites list. Especially his piece on failure left an imprint. Some writers just know how and when to publish the right story for you.

Haver & Sparrow is written by

Charlene Storey

, who inspired me with her favorites blog and a poem she shared on the vibes of summer a couple of months ago.

Then there is

Liz McCrocklin

who writes A True life Built in which she writes about her new life after a long marriage. I had tears in my eyes when I read her piece on healing after leaving a relationship and the ease that comes when a relationship is really good for you… I could feel exactly what she meant.

I find inspiration on growing your Substack with

Sarah Fay

who writes

Writers at Work

. Her workshops always give me a glimpse of all the possibilities Substack offers you and how to earn money with your publication. Because writing is our profession we should be paid for the work we do. By being paid you can bring better stories into the world. Because being a penniless writer doesn’t give you the inspiration and motivation to continue writing. Writing in the end is a profession and stories feed the world with hope and optimism.

Books

I have mentioned the subject of this book before. It is about how to live in sync with your menstrual/female cycle. The book ‘In the Flo’ written by Alissa Vitti has become a guide to my life and will be for the next years. It is about how you can live in sync with your female monthly cycle. It has been an inspiration to have all the evidence in one book that it really is necessary for women to live according to their own natural rhythm. You’re not crazy when you want to eat or move in a different way every part of your cycle.

The last weeks I have mainly been reading novels, some really good like The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and some very funny like Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.

What I realise is when you read a lot of books, some always make more impact than others. These days I am reading a lot on my e-reader and it feels like I completely forgot what I have been reading. I think that is the true beauty about printed books, when you see them in your bookcase or leave them on a pile in your room, you just see the books and get touched by what they showed you while you read it. Even looking at a title or a cover can bring back the story and move you again.

Movies / shows

When you want to get inspired on living an authentic and healthy life, you have to watch Live to 100 on Netflix. It is a (typically American) documentary on the Blue Zones, but the beauty is the stories and the conclusion on things that really matter in life, connection, good food and living with purpose (until you are ready to die). In Blue zones people live long lives, just because they are part of a warm group of people, they eat very good and have a purpose in their days. They are connected to their families and friends and are not put away in homes for elderly people where they die slowly…

Music

Music helps me dealing with all kinds of emotions. This song from Lana Del Rey is one of the songs that makes me feel understood in the search for a life outside societies rules… It is great to be free, but sometimes it feels lonely on the road less traveled.