My book of inspiration...

If it hasn't been glaringly obvious, I am a huge fan of quotes, sayings, and poems. I find inspiration in simple words that relate to life, love, and the pursuit of... whatever you may be pursuing at the time.

I started saving quotes and sayings from a very young age. When I was about 11, my Mom bought me a cute notebook with smiley faces on it (I was a huge smiley face fan back in the day) and I thought that would be the perfect little notebook for me to write down all of the quotes and sayings I'd saved.

I worked hard on this book for many years, using markers and stamps to decorate each page. I almost filled the entire thing; all pages, front and back. I worked on it through high school, but once the college years came, I found I didn't have the time to do much more with it. Nonetheless, I was pleased with the results. It's something I have looked at many times throughout my life to get inspiration from. The words in this book helped me through the initial shock of leaving home my freshman year of college. It helped me get motivated and inspired for swim meets. It helped me get over breakups. It helped me grieve. And now it is giving me inspiration and motivation for Ironman.

I find it ironic that I wanted to post a YouTube video of one of my favorite poems, then realized I had this same poem in similar form on page 2 of my book. It's titled 'Don't Quit' and the author is unknown.

Another one of my absolute favorite poems is called 'A Winner's Creed' which happens to be on page 4 in my book. I also kept this one on a little card in my wallet for many years.

Finally, I love this song and the quotes that are included in this video are some of my favorites. Enjoy. :)