Inspired?
"All my life I had been looking for
something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was.
I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction
and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and
asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could
answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my
expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been
born with: That I am nobody but myself.”
--Ralph Ellison, From Invisible Man
How do the Inspired Bicycles: Way Back Home
presentation and the Ralph Ellison quote relate to your world? Do they
provide you with a new perspective? How should we examine our lives? Who
are we? How shall we live? Should we follow our dreams? What are our
realizations? Can the presentation and quotation connect with your
academic endeavors? Did they make you look twice? Did they inspire and
motivate you? If you have seen one of these before, what is your new
reaction? Other reactions? Please connect and comment using complete
sentences. This blog post should be completed by Wednesday, September 5th,
2018 at 3:40p.m.
posted by Greg T at Thursday, August 30, 2018
33 Comments:
After watching the presentation of Inspired Bicycles: Way Back Home and reading the quote by Ralph Ellison, I am more inspired to live life on the edge and take more risks. Many people tend to live their lives inside the box and follow an everyday routine. Many people also are looking for the wrong things in life and some people come to the realization that they are looking towards the wrong things later in life. I should take more risks while I'm young so that I do not look back on my life and regret the things I did not do. As I have walked through life, I have had the tendency to be someone that I am not. But after reading the quote, I have come to the realization that I am myself and I need to be the person I hide from others. I was shocked when I saw the presentation because I never knew that something as crazy and risky could be possible. The presentation and quote have definitely inspired and motivated me to live life on the edge and to not stress about every little thing in life.
I think overall the quote is a realization of something we are all guilty of in our present lives. Personally, I am guilty of not making my own decisions. I rely a lot on what my friends and family think on a daily. Even picking out a outfit is a difficult decision everyday in the morning. I'm so vulnerable, which is a bad thing to say but it is a challenge to do things on my own. As I grow up I value what my parents have to say because they have been there and done that. Although the decision may not be best suited for me personally I follow through with it. This definitely impacts my future and dreams because when my parents arent around to help me it will be a different ball game for me unfortunately but is all in the lessons of life.
To me, the quote seemed to be a different approach to a topic I often find my mind wandering to. There is unquestionably much to be learned from others. After all, each of us gains knowledge from our unique and personal experiences. However, certain elements of the self cannot be discovered without a little introspection. Those experiences are “unique and personal” for a reason. If they weren’t, individuality would by a myth. Trying to figure yourself out is a daunting task. It means facing insecurities and fears that we’d rather run from. The comfort of asking another for advice is enticing and, depending on the other person, typically helpful; but eventually, you have to face yourself. Otherwise, you will become your own worst enemy, halting your own progress. To avoid such a fate, you have to stand tall.
After watching and reading the video and quote I’m very fascinated by this information. This makes me look at life a different way and truly realize how important everyday is and how we must value every moment. Often, especially in today's modern world, we look to others and items to define us when in reality we can only define ourselves. In my personal life and I know in many others validation on social media is a big part in feeling accepted. We look at the numbers of followers and number of likes and allow these silly numbers to control our lives. Instead of focusing on these aspects we need to pursue our passions and find ourselves. We should focus on what we want to do rather than what is cool. Pursuing your dreams and passions is one of the most essential components of life and after watching this video I’ve learned that I have to be the one to do this. Although people can be helpful in this journey, you have to be able to listen to yourself and follow your true passions. This not only connects with my personal life but also academically. We are constantly pushed to take certain classes and get amazing grades. When in reality school doesn’t define us, it’s important to remember that and still pursue the things we enjoy. It’s so easy to get wrapped up and distracted with insignificant things but it’s also important to remember to find yourself and that you’re the only one capable of doing that.
The video shows a man and his bike, that’s all he needed he didn’t do it for fame or fortune he did it because that was his dream he did it for him, not for anyone or anything. This video should inspire everyone to chase what they want in life and to chase their dreams not leave them behind. This video gave me a very different perspective of the world and how we should go for our dreams not leave them in the dust.
After watching the video, I am really impressed. He is doing tricks on the bike because that is what he loves. He isn't doing it for attention, he is doing it because he enjoys it on his free time. He isn't afraid to be himself and is pursuing his dreams. This video inspires me to achieve my dreams and doing what I truly love which is flipping. He practices his talent and inspires me to do the same. Doing what you love is important and it keeps us moving forward in life. Everyone on this planet has something that they enjoy. It shows a lot and builds character. By setting small goals to achieve your big goal, it will help you. This has truly inspired me to open up more , to be myself, and grow as a human being.
This comment has been removed by the author.
The presentation and quote both convey the idea that everyone is unique and can be nobody but themselves. This relates to modern society because many people struggle finding themselves and look for inspiration from others instead of truly asking themself. I now have a new perspective on the world. I tend to get caught up in other people's lives especially on social media. I compare my life to others and feel like my life is less exciting and that I should like certain things. Now I have recognized that it is important to stay true to myself. I'm not anyone else other than myself, so I should not try and mimic other people. In order to be happy I need to figure out what makes me happy instead of trying on different costumes of other people's happiness. We should examine our lives based on our goals, successes, and failures. We should not compare ourselves to others because everyone is different. We should follow our dreams because it will make us happier in the long run because we wouldn't settle. We should not settle in living a dream that is not our own, we should create and follow our own dreams. I can use this idea in every aspect of life. At school I should focus on my learning goals rather than being smarter than other people or recieving a good grade. I should also learn how to cope with challenges and failure because dreams are not always easy to achieve. Life is about being my best self and is not about succeeding at everything. When I first watched the biker I was surprised because I had never seen a person jump off roofs on a bike. I was surprised because he was taking so many risks. I inferred that he must have spent a lot of time practicing his tricks in order to get so good at them. He alo must have failed when he was first learning. After watching the video I was inspired to practice my hobbies more so I can get better, reminded that it is okay to fail, and inspired to take more risks.
The presentation and the quote both express the idea of individuality. Being and individual while staying as a part of society. Expressing yourself by doing something you love. My initial reaction to the presentation was wow this man in very talented. But as I kept watching, it was more of an artwork than a hobby. The way he maneuvered his bicycle was so soothing and creative. The presentation and the quote go together perfectly because this guy riding a bike found a way to press himself and have fun while doing it. Life is all about following your dreams. Without dreams life would be full of people who settle for less than they should. For me, my dream is to play at the highest level of lacrosse that I possibly can leaving room for improvement the whole way. That's how I believe everyone should live. Be passionate about something and find a way to improve at it as much as you can everyday.
Both the video and the quote really made me think am I living life the way I want to, or the way someone else wants me to? The video on it's own really got me thinking am I happy with the way I'm doing things, or do I need to take some risks to do the what I love at a greater extent. Also the quote on it's own really made me wonder if I am just doing certain things because I am scared what others will think or if it's because I truly want to. But when you put both of them together it truly helped me realize that it doesn't matter what others think about me you the only thing that matters is what you think of yourself. There are definitely times that I, along with many others I'm sure, don't do what they want to because they are afraid of what others will think. But in reality do what makes you happy, don't think twice about what everyone else is thinking because chances are it's not about you. We need more individuals in the world, who aren't afraid to be different from everyone else. Another quote that this reminded me of is "There is only one you for all this time. Fearlessly be yourself." This relates to both the other quote and video because they are all telling you not to be afraid to be yourself. Go show what you love to do to the world.
After watching the video and reading the quote, I have a new perspective on what dreams actually are. Everyone has had a pipe dream, a dream that we have said to ourselves, “If I could make money on this, I would do it.” However, people have told us that we need an actual job. Watching the video has helped me open my eyes to a new career path, culinary school. I have always loved cooking and I have just always told myself to get a real job, one that I can certainly make money on. Having a dream and having the courage and wisdom to actually stick with it is important. These can also apply to academics in the sense of there is no correct way on how to get through high school. More specifically, the quote. Talking about just taking advice without knowing if it would work for you. Just taking it because you are given it.
After watching this video and reading the quote, I farther realized how much people set limits on you while you try and achieve your goals. Most people will never even attempt to achieve their goals because they listen to other people criticize them, or tell them that they couldn't do what they desire too. When people tell me that, I use it as motivation instead of letting it get to me. I connect with both the reading and the quote, because all my life people have told me off with basketball because of my height, skin colors, etc. With the biker, he probably was known as a "wierdo" and did not have too much support about traveling the world to bike. What we both have in common though, as we use it for motivation, and become better at the craft we are doing rather then letting what all the "haters" have to say, because in the scheme of things, what they say really does not matter. I did not learn anything new from watching the video or reading the quote, but rather reminded myself that in what ever I choose to do, there will be people saying negative things about that, but you need to get past that, and do what you do. Focus on you and do not let the outside chatter get to you. Thats what I feel was the main take away through both of these, as the quote and video are both inspiring to me, and should be to everyone else watching.
I think the video and quote didn’t really change any of my perspectives on life nor did it really inspire me. I think the video was cool and impressive. I do think it could serve as a lesson, I think in the video the man shows confidence in all of the obstacles he faces even though he may be experiencing fear. I think you can apply this to everyday life by facing challenges with confidence even though they may be scary. The man did demonstrate some surprising tricks that made me nervous but I was generally impressed. The quote I feel like is more of a statement than advice or a story. I feel like the quote explains a way to find yourself and it shows that you are responsible for your life and who you become in life and I think that is a good way to think about life. I think both the video and the quote show to follow your dreams wherever they may take you and it is going to have to be dependent on yourself.
The video and story was very interesting, I dont think personally I would ever consider this lifestyle, but its pretty cool to see how they do things. In order to do something like this, it takes extraordinary focus and dedication. In order to become that good at a task you must really love what you're doing, which this man clearly does.
Seeing people do amazing things is interesting to me but I find watching the journey more inspiring. I think it is easy to assume that the person has natural talents and are just lucky but watching people fail over and over until they have a breakthrough encourages others that they can do the same thing. It also gives people reasons to push through hard patches in what they are doing. Recently when I have been horseback riding I had a few weeks where me and my horse kepting making big mistakes. We would stop at jumps and canter the wrong way but after weeks of getting yelled at by my instructor we finally did a no fault course. I think that is more inspiring because it shows the real struggle.
After watching the video it showed me that if you have a dream no matter how small it is, its worth chasing after. And if traveling helps open your eyes to the rest of the world. As the guy traveled form one place to another, and he tried different tricks. Shows that anywhere you go in the world, and try something new can be amazing. Because traveling to new places can change your perspective. Because when I traveled to Texas over the summer going just a little farther than home helped me realize that traveling can show you the Independence that you can have. And having the Independence can also show you the way you see the world, because you could be in a million different places and make the experience your own.
After watching this video, seeing how much time he put into what he loves is incredible. Ralph Ellison is showing us through his biking skills that anything is possible as long as you give your best effort and believe in yourself, you can do whatever you put your mind too. At some point in his life he probably doubted himself, and that brought him down. Now at this point he has pushed through the pain of fail after fail bringing his to where he is now. A sponsored biker for Redbull. Through all of life's doubts and fails, Ralph has shown us a valuable lesson. Never give up because anything is possible.
The video "Inspired Bicycles: The Way Back Home" and the quote by Ralph Ellison demonstrates how many people search for themselves in others or in things, and end up feeling lost because they are not answering the question only they can answer. The video also shows us how people are often inspired by others, but still end up doing something unique to them, even if it is based on another person. I am also inspired by the video and the quote, as it shows that people can do anything if they really put their heart and kinds to it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I do think the video changed my perspective on life and it did inspire me to live a life full of risks and to look outside the box. It showed me that if you are determined to become a pro bike rider you can be. You can do anything you put your mind. Yes, sometimes you are gonna fail over and over again, but it takes practice to be good at something. Everyone in life needs to be who they are and needs to shine in their own way. Lots of people walk through life not being who they are and I think that everyone should embrace the weirdness. The quote was more of a statement in my eyes. Everyone is responsible for their own actions no matter what.
After watching the video and reading the quote, my perspective on my life is unchanged. I believe that you work for what believe you want to be. Being an individual is important and being yourself too. Don't worry about the limits or expectations that other people or all of society put on you. Set your own goals and work for them. It's also important to love what you do, if you don't love it then it's not worth doing.
The video "Inspired Bicycles: The Way Back Home" and the quote by Ralph Ellison demonstrates how many people search for themselves in others or in things, and end up feeling lost because they are not answering the question only they can answer. The video also shows us how people are often inspired by others, but still end up doing something unique to them, even if it is based on another person. I am also inspired by the video and the quote, as it shows that people can do anything if they really put their heart and mind to it.
After watching the video, What I took away from it is he loves to put time into it and do what he does. Even though it might be rough at times, may get hurt, he keeps at it with a positive aproach which causes good thing to come his way.
After watching the video and reading the quote, I do not actually have a new perspective on life. The quote from Ralph has always been my perspective on life, and reading the quote doesn't change anything for me. The video was quite interesting in my opinion. It takes skill and confidence to do what the people in the video do, and I think you should live life and take your talents without fear.
I think a take away from Ralph Ellison’s quote and the Inspired Bicycles: Way Back Home video is the fact that everyone, at one point of another, doubts themselves. I think a lot of the advice given nowadays is about being true to yourself, including from Ralph Ellison, but I think that we all need to take time to really know ourselves. People are constantly changing, and constantly trying to get to know themselves. How are we supposed to better ourselves if we don’t even know who that is? I think this should really encourage us to make sure we know ourselves, our goals, and how we are working for those two things.
One aspect of the bicycle trick video that I thought was interesting was how the video of the tricks was taken over several days. You don't realize it but what the video doesn't show are all the times that he messed up. Everyone who is really good or even relatively good at something started out not so good. When someone says, "Oh I could never do that," just don't realize that it's through patience and persistence. It is very corny but is also very true that nothing is really impossible. It just takes perseverance
Cool video, But it doesn't change any perspective for me. I think that the dude lives a good life, and sends a good message. The only thing this video says to me is to get out travel and do your thing, which I can agree with. The video was super down to earth and a fun video to watch overall, but no perspective was taken.
The video Inspired Bicycles: Way back home video has a huge takeaway for me. The takeaway I see with this video is that everyone has to start somewhere but if you work hard enough you can make something you enjoy something amazing. What this video did not show is when the man on the bike would mess up the tricks he was doing which showed that even if you are very good at something, it doesn't mean that you are perfect and that you can still screw it up sometimes. Another takeaway from this video is to not give up on doing what you love. What this means is that in the video the guy doing the tricks was once a newbie at doing tricks but he loved it so much that he kept working hard at it an doing that got him to place in his life where he can travel the world and do tricks almost anywhere.
After reading the very inspiring quote, I really had to stop and think about what I was doing with myself when I try to make decisions and going through my everyday life. As bad as it is to say, I always rely on everyone else before I decide to do something in my day. I think the main reason I do this, is because I care so much about what people think of me. I want people to like me for who I am but many times I end up finding myself wait until I see that its okay to act, look, or feel a certain way. This is obviously scary for me because this is not how I should or anyone should live.
This quote is making me have a lot of thoughts about myself. I think it could mean I go around looking for something that isn't even there. Were all searching for what we have the answers to. Also the video was cool. Over the summer I started using my trampoline again after years of it not being used. During the summer and still to this day we go on and I've become really good. I can do flips I've never done before and I kind of see it at the same way how the guy is good with his bicycle. Keep going, even if you fail at times, and you'll eventually get it right.
After watching the presentation of Inspired Bicycles: Way Back Home and reading Ralph Ellison’s quote, I realized that both relate directly to my life. I’ve lived my life quietly and in the shadows, afraid of anything that is to come. I constantly look for other’s approval, even if I didn’t approve of it myself. I’ve been terrified of the way people think of me, but after watching the presentation and reading the quote, I now understand that it’s important to branch out and to do my own thing. Other’s opinions should not be my concern, because I am who I am and nothing will be able to change that. We must value every moment of life, because life is short and we may regret the actions we didn’t take. Taking more risks is what I’m going to strive to do because I’ve been inspired.
The presentation of Inspired Bicycles: Way Back Home and the Ralph Ellison quote showed me how I need to stop caring about what other people think about me. I need to understand that no matter what I should love myself. Both the quote and the presentation have greatly related to me and my life because both of them has shown that even when life hits you, you can always fight back. This quote also makes me believe that there is more to life than what we see surface level. We as people see the surface level situation and judge what we see, I think that we should know what the circumstance is before we make a judgment. I am going to strive to be the best person that I can be and encourage others no matter what.
After watching the video and reading the quote, it makes me realize that I shouldn’t care about what people think about me. I had to really think about the people around me and I had to sit back and think about the life choices I have made throughout my life and why I decided to them in the first place. I think that the life choices I have made affects the way people see me and it makes me realize if I should just keep being me or if I should change so people would like me. I’m going to continue to keep doing what I do and not care what people think of me.
Post a Comment
<< Home