Living Louder: Gwyneth Paltrow

I have always been intrigued by Hollywood (people.com is one of my top frequented sites). It is not that I desire that lifestyle or even have talents that would land me in Hollywood. It is that these people, these stars, have a life so opposite of mine that I find it interesting how different and yet, how similar we are. They wear Gucci and drive Range Rover's. I wear Nordstrom Rack and drive an Xtrerra. They have strangers throwing themselves at them. I have teenagers throwing water balloons and handfuls of flour at me. They have an assistant to keep their life in order. I have a desk calendar that forgets to remind me of important dates quite frequently (I might fire it). But yet, we all want to be loved, accepted, and valued. We all want to do something that matters.

One person in Hollywood who I have always found not only to be absoutely gorgeous, but seems to have it together and is uber talented is Gwyneth Paltrow. I saw a lengthy interview with her recently and she was warm, friendly, bubbly, positive, humble, funny, sophisticated, and down to earth...we could be friends. For sure. And though all those are commendable qualities thats not why she inspired me. She inspired me because she continues to stretch herself and explore her talents.

She has a rockin movie career that she could ride out and always get awesome roles but she decided to dig deeper into her talents and has now sung at the oscars, created an amazing cookbook, and writes a fun blog. All while being a wife, mom, and friend (Gwyneth, look me up on fb we seriously could be friends)!

When softball came to an end for me five years ago I kinda felt like a part of me was missing, I had devoted so much time and energy to softball that it felt like it was the only thing I was really talented at. Deep down I knew this wasn't true but I couldn't see past being able to hit a ball over a fence or instinctively know where to field a ball coming off a bat. These past five years I have been discovering new talents and passions that I never really knew I had and seeing someone like Gwyneth pursuing different outlets for her talents pushes me not to just get stuck but to explore my talents and in turn, discover more about myself.

Thanks Gwyn (friends shorten each other's names) for being an inspiration!