365 Inspirations—61: Alfred Hitchcock

"If I won't be myself, who will?"—Alfred Hitchcock

My husband and I went to the $3 Landmark theater today to see Hitchcock, a movie and love story about the late director.

Alfred, along with his wife Alma, are my inspiration today because of the risks they took to see their dreams become a reality.

Alfred was already a successful director when the movie Psycho came out. That movie alone was his biggest success, but he had to fight for it.

Paramount Pictures decided not to fund the movie. They did not like the idea, nor did they think the public would like it. Alfred chose not to listen to Paramount and decided to fund the movie himself, putting all of his previous success on the line.

While they were living a rather lavish life prior to the movie, they had to cut costs and downsize in order to see Alfred's dream come to the big screen. No one believed in it except him. Everyone thought it would be a flop.

In the end, Alma came to his side and helped him finish the movie. She had been by his side for 30 some years helping him create movies. They were a team, but it took her some time to warm up to the idea of making Psycho.

I'm not a huge fan of suspense or horror, but this was not what the movie was about. It was about a man with a vision and a dream who was willing to put anything on the line to see it come to life.

He risked everything and it became his biggest success. Of course he had fear and worried that he may not be able to pull it off at times, but he had already invested too much into it and so he was committed to see it through.

I think it's often easy to take the comfortable path of least resistance, but there's something awe inspiring about people who go out and fulfill and live their dreams against all odds. I'm inspired by people who do this and it gives me courage to go out and try the same.

Have you ever followed a dream, even when no one believed in it? Were you able to see the success of that dream?