Borrowing Energy: How Being Around Inspired People Can Bring You Back to Life

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with students at Emory University about leadership and entrepreneurship—my alma mater.

Walking onto that campus brought back a flood of memories. The same sidewalks. The same buildings. The same feeling that anything was possible.

But what struck me most wasn’t the nostalgia.

It was their energy.

Their excitement. Their curiosity. Their willingness to ask big questions about their future. Their belief that they could create something meaningful.

And if I’m being honest… I didn’t realize how much I needed to be around that.

Because entrepreneurship can be exhausting.

Not just physically—but emotionally. You carry pressure. Responsibility. Uncertainty. And over time, that weight can quietly dull the very spark that got you started in the first place.

You don’t lose your ambition.

But sometimes, you lose your access to the feeling of it.

And being around those students reminded me of something important:

Energy is contagious.

Not just negative energy. Positive energy, too.

When you surround yourself with people who are dreaming, building, questioning, and believing—it wakes something back up inside of you.

It reminds you of who you were before the fear.
Before the pressure.
Before the expectations.

It reconnects you to possibility.

One student asked me, “Did you always know this is what you would be doing?”

I smiled.

Because the truth is—no.

I didn’t have some perfect plan. I didn’t have certainty. I had curiosity. I had instinct. And I had the courage to take one step forward at a time.

And standing there, looking at them, I realized something else.

Sometimes, inspiration doesn’t come from looking ahead.

It comes from looking beside you.

From being in rooms where people are growing.
Where people are trying.
Where people are alive with possibility.

You don’t always have to generate inspiration on your own.

Sometimes, you can borrow it.

Sometimes, you just need to sit in the presence of it long enough to remember that it still exists inside of you, too.

That day at Emory didn’t just allow me to give something to those students.

They gave something back to me.

They reminded me why I started.

They reminded me what’s possible.

And they reminded me that when your light feels dim, the fastest way to find it again is to stand near people who are still glowing.

If you’re feeling stuck, tired, or disconnected—don’t isolate yourself.

Find the rooms where people are dreaming again.

It might just bring you back to life, too.

With love,

Tracy//Co-Founder