Being Stalked – In a Good Way. Inspirational People Rock!

June 10, 2015

When I write about being inspired, I think about my parents and family, CC Chapman, Peter Shankman, Eric Francis, Tamsen Webster, Laura Fitton, Meg Tripp and Gretchen Kinder. There are many more folks who inspire me, too, so don’t get despondent if your name isn’t here. I just wanted to start this column with the admission that my journey through life is influenced by the words and actions of a lot of people. And I thank them.

Today, I got to share some of that ‘pay-it-forward’ energy with a complete stranger…and it felt great.

While driving around Hingham I decided to stop at RedEye Roasters. As I pulled into the beach parking lot – if you’ve ever been there you often have to park at the beach and walk to the store – a young woman in a Volvo wagon pulled right up to the side of my car. The woman jumped out of the car and came toward me saying that I might think she was crazy, but she had to share something with me.

This certainly could have been a Paranoia column at that stage if things had gone south. Imagining the John Lennon shooting and any one of a dozen celebrity stalker incidents, I smiled at her and said, “Go on, I’m listening.”

Then she told me an amazing story. It seems that she’s going for her Ph.D. in a medical field and has at times been so overwhelmed with the task that she’s nearly given up the process. She said that each of the four times she’s been on the verge of quitting her quest for the degree, she’s seen my car around town and it’s inspired her to continue.

You see, my license plate is WRITE. And each time this woman saw my car – either when she was out driving to clear her mind or just running errands while contemplating quitting – the license plate spoke to her and commanded her to “write!”

She actually thanked me for driving around town and being the force that kept her going. She’s now a week or so away from the final presentation stage for her doctorate and seems poised to do well in that task.

Did I do anything to merit her thanks? Hardly. Maybe my procrastination method of driving around town really serves more than one purpose. But I believe – as most of the inspiring people I learn from profess – you find inspiration where you need it and then go on to great things in spite of yourself and the baggage that might drag you down.

I can’t stop smiling today and thinking I should be the one thanking the woman I met for making my existence seem a little more worthwhile. Smiles all around.