Day 32: Barb McMahon

November 1, 2009 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“I always think of inspiration as a conversation, and there’s two parts to it.  There’s what I do and then it meets a matching spark in someone, or it doesn’t.  And I can only control what I do, and if that sparks something in someone else then that’s fantastic; and if it doesn’t, I don’t take it personally.”

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Toni Reece: Good morning, Barb, and I really appreciate that you have agreed to participate in this Get Inspired! Project and before we begin, can you introduce yourself?

Barb McMahon: Certainly.  My name is Barb McMahon, and I’m a blogger.  I have two sites.  One is called Happy Simple and the other is Strapped for Daily Photo.  I really enjoy writing; I like photography and just getting out and meeting people.

Toni: Great!  Well that leads us nicely into the very first question, which is, when you think about inspiration, Barb, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Barb: You know, I’m always surprised to find out that I have inspired anyone, and certainly in terms of the people around me, it’s always just a really pleasant surprise when someone says “Oh, I’m so inspired” by something that I’ve done or something that I’ve said.  And I think I do it mostly just by being true to myself, doing what I’m interested in and following my own inclinations.  And somehow people are inspired by that.  In my blog writing, I just try to write my best stuff, put my best stuff out there.  If it’s not very good, I wait until I can fix it up and then do it that way.  But I always think of inspiration as a conversation, and there’s two parts to it.  There’s what I do and then it meets a matching spark in someone, or it doesn’t.  And I can only control what I do, and if that sparks something in someone else then that’s fantastic; and if it doesn’t, I don’t take it personally.

Toni: Do you know, do you have a vehicle in place, that you know when you do inspire others?

Barb: I have comments open on my blog, and sometimes people will write in and say “Well, that was so cool, and it’s inspired me to do something.”  But I think sometimes people just take something away, and if they don’t leave a comment then I just won’t know, and that’s fine, too.

Toni: When you’re doing your work and your writing or even in your personal life, when you’re thinking about inspiration and writing your blog or dealing with others, do you ever find yourself in a place where you’re helping others to explore their potential?

Barb: I think I do sometimes and show them how to do something, encourage them to try something.  I was talking to … before I started this interview … that I’m not a life coach and I kind of joke that I’m actually more of a life cheerleader.  I really like to, if people say “Oh, I’d like to try such-and-so,” then I get behind them and say “Yes, you can do this, you can just give it a try, even if it doesn’t work out it’s okay, just give it a try.”  There’s no danger to most of it, you know; it’s give it a try and if it works fantastic and if it doesn’t, well, you’ve had the experience.

Toni: So it’s realizing that experience.

Barb: Um-hmm … and I don’t have a huge ambition for success; I have much more ambition for experiencing things.  And if I can encourage people to let go of success and failure and just experience, then I think I’ve done my job.

Toni: How do you do that?  Is it through conversation?  Is it through … Do you use any particular methodology when you’re working with other people to help them explore and realize that they need to just have the experience and not the success and failure?  Is there an approach you use?

Barb: I think it is just through conversation, and I really try to just listen to them and hear what they’re saying and try to figure out where they are in the process.  And then it’s just very gentle encouragement and sometimes it’s just leading by example.  Like right now, I’m papering my living room walls in newspaper because I want to see what it looks like, and people come in and go “Oh my!  You don’t have to use real, certified wallpaper!  You can just …” And then, that gets them thinking about things they might like to try in their home.  So yeah, leading by example, I think, is huge.

Toni: When you seek inspiration, where do you go?  What do you need for yourself to be inspired?

Barb: Quite a few years ago, I made it a New Year’s resolution to spend more time with positive people.  And it works so well that I just renew that resolution every year, and there are people in my life who … they’re always so positive and so full of energy.  And just having a cup of tea with them kind of gets me going for the rest of the week; and so I try to spend time with them.

If people aren’t available, photography really … a beautiful picture, a great photo of something will get me going again.  So I have some picture books that I look at over and over again, and just sit down quietly and relax and sort of fill back up with that.

Toni: Do you ever reach for any particular tools or approaches when you seek inspiration, when you know that, you know, “I think it’s time for me now, I need to fill up a little bit”?  You’ve mentioned photography and being around positive people; are there any type of tools that you seek out or do you look for certain things?

Barb: No, I think I know myself well enough by this point that really a cup of tea and a good book is all I really need to be re-inspired.  I mean, if I need to learn new techniques about something, then I just do the research there, and I’m constantly researching, blogging and writing and those sorts of things.  But to just inspire myself, to give myself the energy to keep going, a bit of quiet time with a friend or a good book and I’m ready to roll.

Toni: Well that leads me into — when you mentioned research for your blogs and when you’re working and you’re exploring your own potential — where do you go for that?  What do you need to explore your own potential?

Barb: A lot of it is just the time alone to experiment.  We’re not a very experimental society.  We need to know that “If I do this it’s going to work.”  So I just kind of give myself the little “it’s okay to fail” pep talk and then I just play.  I just play with whatever, whether it’s  craft or even just the photography, or my writing.  It’s well, let’s just try this and if it’s really awful, I’ll just scrap it and nothing will be lost and I will have learned a few things and will go on from there.

In terms of exploring the limits of my potential, scaring myself; doing something that’s frightening on a regular basis is good.  And I don’t mean like bungee jumping or anything like that, but things that take me to places emotionally or just something that, you know, I think “Oh, I don’t want to do this …” well, let’s just do it.  Just do it.

Toni: So you push your comfort zone.

Barb: I do, on a regular basis.  Because otherwise your horizon is just narrow constantly.  So yeah,  just get out there and be a little frightened and make a fool of yourself sometimes.  It’s okay.

Toni: The comfort zone, pushing yourself out of the comfort zone, does that also equate to the experiment?

Barb: I think so, yeah.  Because really, my inclination is to not enjoy, “Well that didn’t work.”  I mean, who likes “That didn’t work.”?  But if you just do what you know, well, you’re not going to experience much, and I’ve realized finally that sort of my over-arching goal in this life is to experience as much as I can.  To travel, to try new foods, to go to those places emotionally that most of us try to avoid.

Toni: Can you clarify for me, Barbara, what you might mean between the difference of experience and experiment; because you’ve used both words, and I’d be really curious to know what the difference is.

Barb: I would have to say that to me, experience is sort of what happens around me.  An experiment is something that I do.  So I experiment in decorating my house; I experiment in cooking or in photographing or in writing.  Whereas an experience is, “I’m here and I’ve kind of removed myself from myself and just see what’s happening.”

Toni: So basically, the experiment that you do — whether it’s in any of these areas — leads to that experience, whether it’s a success or failure by whatever measure you have.  That’s what I’m hearing, that that experimenting does lead to that ultimate experience for you.  And I would imagine that based on your own needs for inspiration and exploration of your own potential, with those two words of experience and experiment, I would imagine that transfers into that spark that you provide in giving others the courage to succeed or fail, to have the experience that you spoke about when you inspire and explore other people’s potential.

Barb: I think so, because we aren’t actually a very experimental society, and people are frightened.  And if I can make it okay for them to try something or to just step a little beyond what’s comfortable, then I’m happy because they’ll be happy to try something to be a little scared and to survive; they kind of go “Oh!  What else can I do?”.

Toni: Right, so it’s helping someone through that comfort zone into that little scary place, you know, out of the panic zone into a little scary place because that can lead to the best successes and the ultimate experience.  And I would imagine using your own methodology to do that in your own life is how you mirror that with others.

Barb: Absolutely.

Toni: I really want to thank you for your interview this morning, Barb, because there are many people that will be listening to this or reading this post ,and they’re probably sitting there also going, “You know what, I need to creep out of that comfort zone into that panic zone so that I can have that experience.”  And I believe so many people will benefit and learn from your snapshot of your experience this morning, and I really appreciate you allowing us to have that snapshot with you.

Barb: Oh, I’m really glad to be involved in this project; it’s very exciting.

Toni: Thank you, Barb; thank you so much for your time.

Barb: Thank you.

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For more information about Barb McMahon:  www.happysimple.com, www.stratforddailyphoto.com

Thumbnail photo on home page by Barb McMahon.

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