Inspiration is found in the most unlikely of places.

Last week was a killer week with three one day trips. On the last trip - I was at the airport with a colleague ruing the fact that Murphy had become my best friend and dealing with the third delayed flight of the week.  

We decided to sit at the airport coffee shop. Ordinarily - I would have been busy with my mail or messages - but the early morning and now the late night had taken the mickey out of me and I was just staring into space.  

Just then, on the next table - I happened to hear a beautiful young lady talking to someone. Without intending to listen in, I realized that it was her daughter. She was doing what I had done so many times before - manage home and work - while “leaving on a jet plane” 

Sensing a kindred spirit in her, I caught her eye and smiled at her. Soon she disconnected her call. I passed a trivial remark about how kids ask their moms for everything and ask their dads only about where their moms are busy, and we started speaking. She was a bright and charming woman with an easy laugh and a brilliant smile.  

We exchanged pleasantries and out of nowhere, I got a glimpse into the secret part of her life. Behind the laugh was a woman dealing with her husband’s chronic and life-threatening illness. She was living out of two countries and nurturing her two children. She was someone who was focusing on the future of her family while dealing with a tremendously challenging present.  

Amazed at the ease and fortitude with which she described her situation, I asked her how she coped, and the simplicity with which she gave me the answer had me floored.  

She said "I had two choices - I could either make my husband’s illness my entire life or I could make it a part of my life. I chose to do the latter. After all, I have to make sure my girls grow to be strong individuals who can take the good and bad in their stride." 

Listening to her I realized the power of perspective and how it can keep you grounded. Allowing anything to consume you to the extent that you lose all perspective can be crippling.  

All the good and bad that happens in life is only a part of our life and never our entire life.  

Like I said - inspiration is found in the most unlikely of places. And that night - I won my battle with Murphy and went back richer for having been inspired by that beautiful woman with the easy laugh.