What inspiration means..at least to me

I'm a newbie, only a little more than a year out from surgery, but I have been pretty consistent on the boards & what I have noticed is a lot of "inspirational" posts.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading how surgery has changed their lives. How they want to be an inspiration to other people, but what irks me to no end is how people will post their accomplishments/inspiration & then disappear for months or years at a time, & not supporting the OH community that helped them in their time of need., of not giving back. It comes off as a pat me on the back post rather than the inspiration they meant it to be.

I feel that inspiration, true inspiration comes from the people who stay, who supports people & answers their questions for the millionth time & tries to help other newbies, myself included., & others. They stay & help, not disappear, not use excuses cuz some people "offended" them in some way so now they don't want to stick around anymore or they deactivate their account or whatever.

Maybe I'm rambling, maybe I'm not using the right word, but to me inspirational people stay & help, hopefully I can be inspirational to someone else.

Much respect to the vets on this board & all the other inspirational people. Thanks for reading. 

Well said!

I definitely give more credence to the people who participate frequently than to the ones who post and run. 

You're absolutely right, and Gwen adds a great point too.

Check out a post that someone makes on their several year anniversary, showing how well they're doing. It's nice to know people can be successful long-term. But they don't offer anything else, and those posts have only a handfull of responses.

Take someone else who is here a lot, and tries to help people. When they share a surgiversary, they get lots and lots of feedback. They are really part of a community, and people really do appreciate them.

I don't know where I would be without those who stick around and try to help.

Many thanks to all of you who are here on a regular basis.  As a relative newbie, I have learned so much from you and look forward to your replies.  You could have easily abandoned those of us who are looking for answers--sometimes for the umpteenth time--and just read the posts or left altogether. You are inspirational and would be greatly missed! 

Great points all around.  This place would be so much less valuable without the community aspect to it.  When we read and post consistently we both get support / motivation and give support / motivation.  It benefits the community (whi*****ludes ourselves).  

Of course it is nice to see people far out who are successful, but it is MUCH more meaningful to see someone far out who has been successful when they share their daily struggles and successes throughout the process.

What a great reminder!  I try to answer posts of folks with questions, as best I can and as often as possible.  There are times when I just don't want to answer the same question for the umpteenth time, and I pass it over.  Your post reminds me, once again, of all of the support I received from folks when I was new and had the same questions, who probably also got tired of answering the same questions over and over, but wanted to reach out to someone who needed the support.  Your post just renewed my resolve and motivation to be present here and pay it forward as best I can.  It is helpful to newbies, but helps me too in staying accountable.  Thanks sooo much!!!!!    Mary

While I'm still here pretty much daily, I don't always post as much as I could. You have a point. Mostly it's because someone else has already answered in a similar way as I would. Also, I sometimes think that since my journey has taken on a different aspect, it's not always best to answer given my current cir****tances. But again, that's the beauty of this site - there really is something here for everyone - even those of us who have had some regain and are working on that.

So true, for me as well.  Thanks for the post, and much respect to you as well. 

I am so grateful for the support that I've received from my posts and questions, etc. I am on every day or every few days. I will say that I leave some of the comments to the vets - because I'm new to this - and I also won't comment on a post if it's already a really long thread or if my own comments have been covered by someone else in the thread. 

But that doesn't mean that I'm not supportive of the posts! I totally understand what you mean, though! I agree - there is a very helpful active crowd and some aren't on so often. I'm reading more posts than I comment on, though, for sure! 

I wish there was a 'like' button to show support without having to comment, repeat other ideas or answers. That would be really cool!