Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living magazine. Today I have Seth Adams with me. Welcome.
Seth Adams: Thank you for having me.
Toni: You’re welcome.
Seth: Glad to be here.
Toni: So Seth, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Seth: Oh, my. Where to start? It feels like a job interview. I’m not from Berks County originally. I’m from Snyder County, which is in central PA. A very small town. No one’s ever heard of it, but just in case, it’s called McClure. I am an e-commerce manager for The Restaurant Store; over here in Wyomissing, they have a location. Not too long ago I lived in Harrisburg. I like to say, like most stories, it involves a girl. That’s how I ended up here. My girlfriend lives in Berks County, so I moved here less than a year ago. I’ve been in Berks County a little bit less than a year now.
Toni: How are you liking Berks County?
Seth: I like Berks County. It’s nice. It’s rural. It’s got restaurants. It’s a good location. Close to Philly, close to New York, easy to get around to the bigger cities if I need to. I’m enjoying it thus far.
Toni: Good. Welcome.
Seth: Thank you.
Toni: Alright. Let’s go into the Project.
Seth: Excellent.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Seth: Oh, my. I’m sure I’m not the first person to say this, but it seems like an easy question, but when you start thinking about it, it’s always hard to describe something that’s intangible.
Toni: Right.
Seth: You know it when you see it, but it’s hard to describe. In thinking about it, really to me there’s different types of inspiration. I don’t want to get too political here, but I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter, if I can say that on the radio.
Toni: Sure.
Seth: His is almost to me, like an inspiration of sameness. It’s kind of like, I have these thoughts and ideas and this certain world life view that in looking around the world, maybe you don’t think other people share that life view with as you might have, but seeing him come along and not just have those same views, but the support that he gets along with that, it’s kind of inspiring to me to say, “Hey, you know, I’m not the only guy out here that thinks this way or has this particular outlook on life.” That’s one type of inspiration.
The other type, I think kind of like an inspiration of newness or differentness, like some idea or technology or music that you hear comes along and pushes the boundaries of what you thought was possible. It was so new and different that you didn’t think it was possible to do something like that. That’s kind of inspiring to me as well.
Toni: That’s really interesting, because there’s almost two parallel tracks here.
Seth: Right.
Toni: One is you’re inspired when others have the same thought process as you, and it provides validation of, “Oh my gosh!”
Seth: I’m not the only one.
Toni: Exactly. The other is newness.
Seth: Right. So it’s kind of like almost this sort of dichotomy, I guess. It’s interesting that they can be so different, yet it still kind of falls under the same category, I guess, in what I would call inspiration.
Toni: And being inspired.
Seth: Right.
Toni: I love that answer.
Seth: Good.
Toni: So how do you take those two tracks of recognizing someone else’s inspiration as the way that you think and perceptions that you have and also this newness, and put it into practice here in Berks County?
Seth: That’s a good question. I haven’t been in Berks County that long, so I haven’t had a whole lot of opportunity to sort of impart my inspiration, but I think the thing about inspiration is that you don’t have to make a conscious effort to try to inspire. It just happens naturally in what you might do in your regular day-to-day activities. Bike riding is something I’m very passionate about. I got out and I ride my bike every day after work. That’s something I do every day. Maybe somebody sees that, and they get inspired by seeing me do that every day to also want to go out and exercise or do something like that. I can't say that I consciously make an effort to inspire people, but I think just in your day-to-day activities, you might inspire somebody by doing something that you just don’t even realize you’re inspiring somebody.
Toni: It’s also about putting it into practice. So when you hear of a similar idea that inspires you, does it move you to some sort of action to either build on that idea, or even some new idea? When you are inspired, does something happen that then you go and do something?
Seth: I think sometimes. I think that’s the whole idea behind inspiration. It kind of invokes some emotion or feeling, and hopefully you can take that emotion or feeling and turn it into something actually – what’s the word I’m looking for? Substantial or actionable, or something like that.
Toni: Now, you had mentioned to me prior to the interview that you collect vintage cars.
Seth: I do collect vintage cars.
Toni: Are you inspired by vintage cars?
Seth: Yeah. I would say that’s along the lines of being inspired by beauty or art or something like that. I like the way that they look. I like to have beautiful things around me, and I’m sure my fiancé will agree with that.
Toni: Oh, what a nice thing to say. That’s pretty cool. So who in Berks County inspires you?
Seth: Not having been in Berks County a whole lot of time, I don’t have a big choice to select from. I’m not from Berks County, so I think most people would say their parents, their siblings, something like that. While they are very inspirational to me, they aren’t in Berks County, so I’ll have to say my fiancé is very inspirational to me. I look at what she does for a living. She’s very good at what she does, and she’s very passionate about what she does, and that’s something that I admire when somebody has that sort of passion and kind of found their calling in life, so to speak, and is very passionate about it.
Toni: So you are inspired by her being driven by her own passion.
Seth: Yes. Absolutely.
Toni: So you’re witnessing.
Seth: Yeah. I mean, to me, I enjoy what I do and everything for work and in life, but she has a real passion for what she does, and I find that very interesting.
Toni: Do you remember the last time you were inspired?
Seth: The last time I was inspired? I guess it’s kind of a scale, if you want to say. I mean, you have smaller inspirations in life, and larger inspirations in life. In terms of my last big, “Oh my God!” inspiration, probably not, but to me it’s the little things in life, like driving to work down in Lancaster. I come up over 222, and I have this nice beautiful view of out over the valley and seeing all the little houses and everything. That’s something that I find inspirational every day I drive down to work.
Toni: It sounds to me, the common theme that I’m hearing from you is witnessing beautiful things, whether they’re in thought or ideas or material things around you, that you seem to notice those things.
Seth: Yeah, I would say that’s accurate.
Toni: That’s a really cool way to put inspiration into practice as well. To witness, because not a lot of people do. They miss it.
Seth: That’s true.
Toni: What would you like your legacy to be, Seth?
Seth: Oh, my. My legacy. There was probably a time when I was younger I idolized sports people or celebrities or something like that, and I really had this fear of, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to be forgotten when I die,” or something like that. “I’m going to leave. No one’s going to remember me.” The older that I get, I feel it’s not necessarily important that people you don’t know might remember you or not remember you. It’s really just the people that are important to you remember you and value what you did. To me, it’s just living a good life, being a good person, and being remembered by the ones that you care about.
Toni: I think that’s a very inspiring answer to the legacy question.
Seth: Oh, how apropos.
Toni: Absolutely. Seth, thank you so much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Seth: Thank you for having me. It’s been fun.
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living magazine. Today I have Seth Adams with me. Welcome.
Seth Adams: Thank you for having me.
Toni: You’re welcome.
Seth: Glad to be here.
Toni: So Seth, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Seth: Oh, my. Where to start? It feels like a job interview. I’m not from Berks County originally. I’m from Snyder County, which is in central PA. A very small town. No one’s ever heard of it, but just in case, it’s called McClure. I am an e-commerce manager for The Restaurant Store; over here in Wyomissing, they have a location. Not too long ago I lived in Harrisburg. I like to say, like most stories, it involves a girl. That’s how I ended up here. My girlfriend lives in Berks County, so I moved here less than a year ago. I’ve been in Berks County a little bit less than a year now.
Toni: How are you liking Berks County?
Seth: I like Berks County. It’s nice. It’s rural. It’s got restaurants. It’s a good location. Close to Philly, close to New York, easy to get around to the bigger cities if I need to. I’m enjoying it thus far.
Toni: Good. Welcome.
Seth: Thank you.
Toni: Alright. Let’s go into the Project.
Seth: Excellent.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Seth: Oh, my. I’m sure I’m not the first person to say this, but it seems like an easy question, but when you start thinking about it, it’s always hard to describe something that’s intangible.
Toni: Right.
Seth: You know it when you see it, but it’s hard to describe. In thinking about it, really to me there’s different types of inspiration. I don’t want to get too political here, but I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter, if I can say that on the radio.
Toni: Sure.
Seth: His is almost to me, like an inspiration of sameness. It’s kind of like, I have these thoughts and ideas and this certain world life view that in looking around the world, maybe you don’t think other people share that life view with as you might have, but seeing him come along and not just have those same views, but the support that he gets along with that, it’s kind of inspiring to me to say, “Hey, you know, I’m not the only guy out here that thinks this way or has this particular outlook on life.” That’s one type of inspiration.
The other type, I think kind of like an inspiration of newness or differentness, like some idea or technology or music that you hear comes along and pushes the boundaries of what you thought was possible. It was so new and different that you didn’t think it was possible to do something like that. That’s kind of inspiring to me as well.
Toni: That’s really interesting, because there’s almost two parallel tracks here.
Seth: Right.
Toni: One is you’re inspired when others have the same thought process as you, and it provides validation of, “Oh my gosh!”
Seth: I’m not the only one.
Toni: Exactly. The other is newness.
Seth: Right. So it’s kind of like almost this sort of dichotomy, I guess. It’s interesting that they can be so different, yet it still kind of falls under the same category, I guess, in what I would call inspiration.
Toni: And being inspired.
Seth: Right.
Toni: I love that answer.
Seth: Good.
Toni: So how do you take those two tracks of recognizing someone else’s inspiration as the way that you think and perceptions that you have and also this newness, and put it into practice here in Berks County?
Seth: That’s a good question. I haven’t been in Berks County that long, so I haven’t had a whole lot of opportunity to sort of impart my inspiration, but I think the thing about inspiration is that you don’t have to make a conscious effort to try to inspire. It just happens naturally in what you might do in your regular day-to-day activities. Bike riding is something I’m very passionate about. I got out and I ride my bike every day after work. That’s something I do every day. Maybe somebody sees that, and they get inspired by seeing me do that every day to also want to go out and exercise or do something like that. I can't say that I consciously make an effort to inspire people, but I think just in your day-to-day activities, you might inspire somebody by doing something that you just don’t even realize you’re inspiring somebody.
Toni: It’s also about putting it into practice. So when you hear of a similar idea that inspires you, does it move you to some sort of action to either build on that idea, or even some new idea? When you are inspired, does something happen that then you go and do something?
Seth: I think sometimes. I think that’s the whole idea behind inspiration. It kind of invokes some emotion or feeling, and hopefully you can take that emotion or feeling and turn it into something actually – what’s the word I’m looking for? Substantial or actionable, or something like that.
Toni: Now, you had mentioned to me prior to the interview that you collect vintage cars.
Seth: I do collect vintage cars.
Toni: Are you inspired by vintage cars?
Seth: Yeah. I would say that’s along the lines of being inspired by beauty or art or something like that. I like the way that they look. I like to have beautiful things around me, and I’m sure my fiancé will agree with that.
Toni: Oh, what a nice thing to say. That’s pretty cool. So who in Berks County inspires you?
Seth: Not having been in Berks County a whole lot of time, I don’t have a big choice to select from. I’m not from Berks County, so I think most people would say their parents, their siblings, something like that. While they are very inspirational to me, they aren’t in Berks County, so I’ll have to say my fiancé is very inspirational to me. I look at what she does for a living. She’s very good at what she does, and she’s very passionate about what she does, and that’s something that I admire when somebody has that sort of passion and kind of found their calling in life, so to speak, and is very passionate about it.
Toni: So you are inspired by her being driven by her own passion.
Seth: Yes. Absolutely.
Toni: So you’re witnessing.
Seth: Yeah. I mean, to me, I enjoy what I do and everything for work and in life, but she has a real passion for what she does, and I find that very interesting.
Toni: Do you remember the last time you were inspired?
Seth: The last time I was inspired? I guess it’s kind of a scale, if you want to say. I mean, you have smaller inspirations in life, and larger inspirations in life. In terms of my last big, “Oh my God!” inspiration, probably not, but to me it’s the little things in life, like driving to work down in Lancaster. I come up over 222, and I have this nice beautiful view of out over the valley and seeing all the little houses and everything. That’s something that I find inspirational every day I drive down to work.
Toni: It sounds to me, the common theme that I’m hearing from you is witnessing beautiful things, whether they’re in thought or ideas or material things around you, that you seem to notice those things.
Seth: Yeah, I would say that’s accurate.
Toni: That’s a really cool way to put inspiration into practice as well. To witness, because not a lot of people do. They miss it.
Seth: That’s true.
Toni: What would you like your legacy to be, Seth?
Seth: Oh, my. My legacy. There was probably a time when I was younger I idolized sports people or celebrities or something like that, and I really had this fear of, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to be forgotten when I die,” or something like that. “I’m going to leave. No one’s going to remember me.” The older that I get, I feel it’s not necessarily important that people you don’t know might remember you or not remember you. It’s really just the people that are important to you remember you and value what you did. To me, it’s just living a good life, being a good person, and being remembered by the ones that you care about.
Toni: I think that’s a very inspiring answer to the legacy question.
Seth: Oh, how apropos.
Toni: Absolutely. Seth, thank you so much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Seth: Thank you for having me. It’s been fun.
