Women who inspire us

[Guest Gemeaux]

I think it will be good to talk about women who inspire us . It does not even have to do with fitness .

[HorrorGeek]

Lady Gaga. I know she has a bizarre show persona, but I saw her during an interview and she was so inspiring, confident, positive, and intelligent, I just became amazed with her strength. I'm not even really a big fan of her music (I like a few songs, but that's about it) but I really, really respect and admire her.

[Silentplanet]

Adele, pretty impressive to be where she is for an indie artist.

[NotBadForAHuman]

Lt. Ellen Ripley.

[Maledictus]

ooh, easy one... my 2 best friends in the world. They're both fairly private about what they go through so I'll just share one example.

One of them has outlived any number of estimates from her oncologist. She had surgery on her spine and was up the next day running a 10k for a kid's charity she volunteers for (at weekends, around her day job and other work) because the morphine was excellent and let's face it, "it could kill you" is old news at this point. I'm paraphrasing because I was too stunned at the time to remember exactly what she said.

If I ever needed anybody to fight for me I think I'd skip straight past the 20 or so jui jitsu instructors I know and pick one of them.. weaker sex my arse.

[cline]

Jane Addams, Golda Meir (I loved her as a kid and rethink that choice now that I'm an adult, but she was a strong woman), Aung San Suu Kyi

For fitness, my current heros are Dara Torres and Abby Wambach (although all time favs are Michelle Akers and Kristine Lilly).

[Librarian of Doom]

Jennette Fulda - She lost weight, gained fitness, and did it sanely and with a sense of humor.

Ursula Vernon - She writes books, draws and paints, and is just generally a talented powerhouse.

My Aunt M: Once her kids were older, she went back to school for a 2nd degree in kinesiology; she's part-owner of a gym and a CrossFit certified personal trailer; she boxes (she recently got to spar with some of the competitors in the Masters World championships in St. Louis. In her 50s, she's still going stronger and stronger. She rocks.

My Aunt T: Almost 20 years into her marriage, her husband came out as gay and divorced her. She has founded a successful photography business twice (she moved when she remarried) and is a wonderful, strong, happy, positive person. She rocks

My Mom: After 27 years of marriage and 7 kids, my dad molested my youngest sister. My mom kicked him out. A member of her church counseled her not to turn him in, then went to the police when mom refused to sleep with him (the member) and turned her and dad both in. (yes, she should have turned Dad in; not arguing that). She has learned and grown as a person and has never stopped doing her best to keep our family strong. She's not perfect, but she is always trying to be better. She rocks.

[AKLulu]

My grandma Katie. We lost her when I was about 8 years old, but she remains one of the strongest and most influential women in my life. She grew up in rural Alaska (back before statehood), went through two husbands, and raised 11 of her 13 children mostly on her own (the other two were adopted out to relatives). Until the day cancer caused her to be bed-ridden, she was cooking and living for other people. She put salmon, moose, and caribou up for the winter. She picked berries. She sat in the hallway and told all the little kids to go sit with their parents at basketball games. She cared and worried about EVERYONE and I definitely think I managed to take a leaf from her book before she passed on. I can still hear her reprimanding me in my head when I get my feet wet or when I'm being "unladylike" while wearing a dress. And when I'm busy worrying about my cousins and they try to tell me I worry too much by calling me "grandma"... I can't help but be proud. Call me grandma all you want, I'm still going to look out for you

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2563[/ATTACH]

[unicornassassin]

Dorothy Day

My favorite quote from her is "We are here to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." She was so radical!

[Maggie May]

Annie Thorisdottir, for her drive, dedication, and of course, doing it all with a smile:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2570[/ATTACH]

Beyonce (don't hate) for her talent & humility (or so it comes across):

And my mother, for her patient, kind, and ever-loving spirit. I can only hope to grow up as kind and soft-hearted as she is. She'd do anything to make you happy and is the greatest woman I know.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2571[/ATTACH]

[unicornassassin]

Lt. Ellen Ripley.

Oh my god! I kept thinking "Ellen Ripley, hmmm, I know that name... There goes my nerd cred

I also want to add- pretty much any old lady. Particularly sassy old ladies, but also sweet quiet old ladies.

Old ladies who swear melt my heart.

[Rogue]

Trinity. Wears leather, can kick anyone's ass, rides motorcycles, cracked the IRS database, and is God. How much awesomer can you get?

[gymell]

Trinity and Ripley. Two of my favorite movie characters ever!

For real people, someone already mentioned Dara Torres. I read her book "Age is Just a Number" which is a really good read. She's my age so learning about how she approaches her training is very relevant to me, and inspiring for all us masters level athletes (although, she competes against people half her age!)

Another great read from an inspirational trailblazer is "Marathon Woman" by Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. Just knowing what she had to go through to gain acceptance for women's running, and the work she did toward getting the marathon in the Olympics is just amazing!

Lastly, I really like Dr G. She seems very intelligent and cares a lot about giving families closure when their loved ones pass away. And passionate about finding the real truth about what happened. She was the medical examiner the Casey Anthony case, and she seemed to be the one person who really cared about the child and giving her justice, and not all the media hype around the case. She wrote a book called "How not to Die" where she talks about the top causes of death that she sees and how to avoid these preventable things.

[HorrorGeek]

Trinity and Ripley. Two of my favorite movie characters ever!

For real people, someone already mentioned Dara Torres. I read her book "Age is Just a Number" which is a really good read. She's my age so learning about how she approaches her training is very relevant to me, and inspiring for all us masters level athletes (although, she competes against people half her age!)

Another great read from an inspirational trailblazer is "Marathon Woman" by Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. Just knowing what she had to go through to gain acceptance for women's running, and the work she did toward getting the marathon in the Olympics is just amazing!

Lastly, I really like Dr G. She seems very intelligent and cares a lot about giving families closure when their loved ones pass away. And passionate about finding the real truth about what happened. She was the medical examiner the Casey Anthony case, and she seemed to be the one person who really cared about the child and giving her justice, and not all the media hype around the case. She wrote a book called "How not to Die" where she talks about the top causes of death that she sees and how to avoid these preventable things.

1. I know I appropriately have named myself since I got Ellen Ripley immediately and had to really think hard about Trinity. It finally hit me though. LOL

2. I watched that movie Spirit of a Marathon. Katherine Switzer was on there talking about what she did. I salute her too. Some day I want to have that kind of courage and strength. Whether you run or not, Spirit of a Marathon is an amazing documentary and I highly recommend it. It's free on Hulu and streaming on Netflix.

3. Dr G...you know, she actually really annoys me. I think it's her voice. But I saw that special on the Casey Anthony trial (I'm not opening that debate) and I was actually pretty impressed. It seemed to me like first time I actually saw her doing real work as opposed to posing for the camera. She still annoys me, but at least I respect her now.

[gymell]

I can see how Dr G's voice could be annoying to some. And her regular show on DFH, of course those are all reenactments of cases that she has had, so it could feel a bit contrived. But I think she really does go the extra length to find out what really happened, when other MEs might close the book with an easy answer. I think she does really care about the families. And also she's a science nerd, and just wants to know! What's not to love about that?

[Booky]

My mother inspires me. She's incredibly strong and fiercely independent. And she's pretty much the greatest mother I've ever met. She raised my sister and I alone, along with taking care of our ridiculous number of pets.

And I'd mention how my sister inspires me too but that seems a bit redundant since if she didn't I wouldn't have joined this site. She works on improving herself every day, and that's awesome. Also she took care of me when our mom couldn't.

[Waldo]

I think the first lady, Michelle Obama, is a pretty inspirational lady. She balances both sides of the coin on practically everything quite well.

[Silentplanet]

I think the first lady, Michelle Obama, is a pretty inspirational lady. She balances both sides of the coin on practically everything quite well.

Yeah she seems like a pretty inspirational person to me too =)

I am not really inspired easily by celebrities though, I usually find inspiration in the friends around me. There's very cool people everywhere in the world =) not just under the spotlight.

E.g. I have a friend who recently went from thin and lanky to lean and sexy. She started burlesque and has managed to get shows in Melbourne after a very short amount of time. She has got her name out there and is starting to get very big very quickly. This is all from a rather shy, geeky girl. I don't think I'd have started my journey to fit if it wasn't for people like her... who show me that you don't need to fit the stereotype to achieve something great!

[unicornassassin]

Yeah she seems like a pretty inspirational person to me too =)

I am not really inspired easily by celebrities though, I usually find inspiration in the friends around me. There's very cool people everywhere in the world =) not just under the spotlight.

E.g. I have a friend who recently went from thin and lanky to lean and sexy. She started burlesque and has managed to get shows in Melbourne after a very short amount of time. She has got her name out there and is starting to get very big very quickly. This is all from a rather shy, geeky girl. I don't think I'd have started my journey to fit if it wasn't for people like her... who show me that you don't need to fit the stereotype to achieve something great!

One of the best burlesque performance I've seen was from a short 200+ pound woman. She was GREAT and the audience loved her.

I guess I can add "any woman who is confident and has good self-esteem" to my list of inspirational women.