Swim For Your Life

I need inspiration to keep me going when I find myself struggling and losing my willpower. Along with being inspired from the fact that I need to stay on track in order to avoid medication, I find inspiration through the courage of others. Memoirs and documentaries are what keep me inspired, written by people suffering, people experiencing extreme hardships, people who find their inner strength and share their stories with others. People who write with such passion and emotion that I am drawn into their personal lives.

Dear Jack is a documentary that tugged a deep sense of pain and emotion within me during the movie. I am not normally an emotional person. I never cry during movies, and I never get emotionally tied into films that I watch. Andrew McMahon, the singer of bands Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin (my favourite bands who I still listen to on a regular basis), was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005. While undergoing treatment, Andrew filmed his journey and shared his thoughts and emotions throughout the process – his raw truth. He held nothing back. I look up to him as having an abundance of courage – I understand how it feels to share with the world very personal details about one’s health and feelings. I understand how it feels to be so vulnerable to the world. I watch his documentary Dear Jack, and feel his pain. I am completely inspired by him to continue sharing my stories with you. He is a fighter, and so am I. As he sings in his song Swim, “I’m not giving in,” I feel a deep connection with him and his song lyrics, and am thankful that he shared his story with the world in hopes that he could bring hope to people undergoing troublesome times.

I am constantly told that I am an inspiration by writing this blog. I am honoured to be told such things, but want you to know that I do not conjure my inspiration from thin air. I am inspired by memoirs, by people even stronger than me, who have suffered greatly and share their stories. Thank you, Andrew McMahon, for inspiring me tonight.