The people in fandom have always both inspired me, and made me panic, as I admire so many of them! However the real inspiration comes from my parents.
My Dad left school at 14, yet while I was doing my A levels he was starting his PhD ... it is what made me go straight to college, as I so loved the fact he was studying, but knew if I wanted to do it then I should go to college straight from school. And both Mum & Dad supported me through my 4 years of college training. Then 27 years later they supported me when I told them I was giving up that profession and were going to look for something new.
My Mum left school at 15, yet from then on, she never stopped learning. She tried all sorts of handcrafts, and nothing ever stumped her, icluding tatting, which I can't even beging to get my head around. In her 50's she learnt classical guitar and swimming. Dad also overcame a fear of water to learn to swim, at age 55, and he had diving lessons ... something I just can't face, as I can't get rid of my fear despite being able to swim.
The both played piano all their lives, and both got computers, that they used regularily. Dad preached at out Chapel until his late 80's. Mum made all her own clotehes (and my 2 sisters-in-law wedding dresses), made cakes every week (trying new recipes all the time).
In the last few years of his life, Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, yet (with my help), she managed to edit a book on Revelation, and at age 89, self-published. In the last couple of years of her life mum lost most of her sight ... but still kept on cooking, etc as much as she could.

Taken just before their Diamond Anniversay (88 & 85)
So, they were very special people, and I miss them very much.
However, the question was about inspiration - despite their backgrounds, they problems, etc they kept going. They kept learning new things, facing new challenges ... and kept going. Whatever happened to knock them back, they picked themselves up ... and got going again.
This was originally post on Dreamwidth