Influence vs. Inspire

Notes around a thought I'm formulating. This isn't a fully baked theory, it's just a loose hypothesis. Feel free to comment with your take in the comments below.

We live in the era of 'influencers'. I find that once I notice a word becoming a buzzword, I mourn its loss and stick it into the 'nope' pile.

(Ash Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project used to have a running tally of "Words on the Shit List" full of overused and commonly misused words that had become divorced from their meaning through overuse. Love that!)

I love etymology. The study of the meanings of words. Often before I start writing I will look up the definition of the words that exemplify the concepts I am mulling over. So clarifying!

And so in that spirit, I would like to make a distinction between two words in the current zeitgeist.

Influence and Inspire

Influence Noun: the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.

Inspire Verb: fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

As I look at these definitions I feel more strongly aligned with the concept of being inspiring. Influence/ to be an Influencer seems wrong for me somehow. There's a residue of something on the word that I just can't define. To 'influence' feels controlling. It's an 'outside-in' kind of action... it's my actions 'making' you do something and I don't resonate with that idea at all. I can’t quite put my finger on it.

But to inspire feels like, effervescent. It's a feeling of inside out. As if something that I would do or say awakens a seed within you that longs to grow. To inspire feels like it's the sunlight to help what is within you to grow. Some people discard the words 'motivational and inspirational' because they're light and without a course of direct action. And I agree. They are there to help support YOUR internal process. It's not to tell you what to do, but to open the internal pathways that allow you to see what is possible and to step into the magic of the unknown yourself. To be 'inspiring' is to trust that you can manage the 'how' for yourself. To influence is to remove the trust in someone else to be able to direct their own path.

To influence is to say : This is possible ____, if only you DO THIS _____. (i.e. buy this, believe this, take this action)

To inspire is to say: This is possible_____, now go do something that brings about this feeling for you! It will lead you to your own path.

Your path doesn't look like mine. And therein lies the magic!