Pinterest and Facebook are full of of pictures with inspirational quotes on them. Sentimentality for sentimentality’s sake doesn’t work on me. I have no ill will towards the people it does inspire, it’s just like how broccoli just tastes bitter to some people – you know, because of genetics and shit. So, when I see these rampantly shared images, my gut reaction is a little different from the people who love them. I get unspired, if you will. Here’s some side-by-side comparisons: on the left, inspiring inspirational inspirement and on the right, my brain’s rejection of it.
I think the sentimental gene skipped me too. I loved all of these especially “just keep pumping” and “stop littering.” Great advice!
One day they’ll find the gene that causes incessant inspiration sharing.
OMG… LOVE this post! How funny would it be to put little reminders to “stop littering” all over the place. I used to sticker tag with my friends… wish I had thought of that one. All we did was add things to stop signs… like “the insanity,” “making sense,” and, my personal favorite, “collaborate and listen”
“Stop, collaborate, and listen” is way more inspirational than anything else I’ve seen. Thank you, Sir Vanilla Ice.
I always get the urge to Debbie Down every motivational quote I see puked onto my facebook news feed. I like your approach much better.
Tis the lament of the realist.
That is why I have never visited Pinterest. I would be inspired to poke pins in a voodoo doll of people posting tons of “inspirational” things.
You’re good people.
Thanks, Abby. I fear that they will never run out of things to compare love and the heart to.
Oooooooh yes. I am so not an inspirational quote kind of gal. I like your unspired quotes though, words to live by!
Thanks, Vesta! I’m relieved to know I’m not alone.
It’s probably just the jadedness in me, but I always assume that the people that post a lot of inspirational quotes have made a lot of bad life decisions in their time.
I think that’s a pretty solid theory. If there were more inspirational quotes specifically about not eating too much candy, maybe I’d be more moved.
I can attest to that. At least on my friend’s wall, the ratio of number of inspirational quotes to bad life decisions made is pretty much 1:1.
HAHAHAHAHA. You should start your own anti-motivational/inspirational viral meme movement. I would be inspired to “like” and “share” them, if I wasn’t so busy “liking” and “sharing” pictures of Joe Manganiello without his shirt and heartwarming photos of dogs.
I was thinking about doing that, too – show how awful I would be at creating inspirational quotes. Who knows, maybe I’d hit on something and become immortalized on Pinterest. Eww, nevermind.
Ha!
You know, I don’t know why I think it is better to say HA! than then odious LOL.
Anyway, particularly loved the heart one… and the man in that picture!
I do the same thing – HA!. I rarely ever actually LOL sitting by myself with my laptop, and I don’t like to lie.
See, I like the ones that look all pretty and make you think it’s gonna be some syrupy sweet bullshit, and then it’s really something completely irreverent and inappropriate. It’s like BAM! Asshole. Love it.
And seriously with the littering. Cut that shit out.
My neighbors probably wondered what the hell I was doing out in the middle of the street chasing and trying to take a picture of a tiny piece of paper.
This is great!
Thanks!
It bugs me when people tweet and the facebooks these quotes. Make up your own. Where’s the birthday card that says
“dude, you made it another year. as crazy as you are and as many drugs as you did, you should just feel lucky to be upright.”
like abby and amy, we are alike. Carpe Diem…i mean Try to not screw anything up today but if you do, tweet it.
There’s a big enough market for that birthday card you just wrote to warrant its mass production.
I had to laugh at this. At one point my friends and I had a friend on facebook that would post all of these ridiculous pictures and sayings on our walls. Finally, one of my other friends (who is as jaded, sarcastic, and cranky as me) said, “Julie, let me know who’s making you post all these inane ‘inspirational’ pictures, and I will hunt them down and punch them for you.”
She never posted one on our walls again. To her own, to be sure, so we still saw them in our newsfeed, but at least she stopped putting them on our walls. *whew*
I don’t get much sharing on my wall, but I’ve got a lot of dog rescue friends. I love dogs as much as the next crazy dog person, but I can only hear so much about how dogs fill a hole in your heart.
The haircut one really speaks to me. I’m bad at that.
I think a truly inspirational poster would be a kitten holding a cutlass in pirate dress. Seriously if a kitten can hold up a giant knife without help and no thumbs I would be impressed.
Interesting. My first though would be “that’s not very safe, it’s only a kitten.”
Kitten’s tend to be a lot more coordinated than humans, but as temperamental as kittens are you are right it would not be very safe, for us.
Ha! True, kittens are pretty ruthless.
Yes! Well-being quotes and loosely-masked commands are the worst. They inspire me to vomit, mostly.
Yeah, me too.
At last, inspiration for the rest of us!
It’s just time.
You should totally start a thing or something! (I heart the heart one)
You could be the 23 1/2 century (or whatever we’re in) Jack Handy.
Love Jack Handy.
I could definitely churn out awful quotes like a machine.
Oh, my God, yes! I have to share this with my friend who hates things as much as I do!
Yours are way better. Deep thoughts, but the Cannibalistic Nerd. Can’t wait for more.