These are stories written by Vin fans about how he has inspired them.
NOTE: These are in response to the question "Has Vin Diesel Inspired You?"
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Has Vin inspired me? Hmmm...Let me see...well I guess if seeing someone one screen doing some research on him. Then deciding your life is a steaming pile of crap, then ya he has inspired me.
I starting reading these wonderful interviews, and it hit me my life is crap and I need to fix it. How? Well, that took a few weeks a shit load of soul searching, and some serious deep thinking. Finally I realized I wanted to write. Really write not Fan Fiction but something else. He has become my muse, my inspiration, the one and only person who actual got to me. I have started to lose weight, about twenty pounds. Even considered working out and building some muscle.
I want to tell him how he has given me a new vision for my life. I want to call him up and just bullshit with him. I would love just to share my thoughts, my day with him.
I would adore being able to tell him in person, thank you. Thank you for saving my ass. Despite the turmoil the soul searching has caused it woke me from my sleep, and made me take a good, hard look at me. What I wanted and what I need for myself finally has become clearer. I need to write for my soul, for my spirit. I need to dream.
You all can glorify his body, I will glorify his mind, his talent, his charisma, drive, determination. I will admire his strength in the face of endless frustation, I will try to imitate his infinite patience with the world when it just can't seem to grasp what talented people can do when they are given a chance. No matter what there color, shape, and religion is.
Has Vin Inspired me? In so many ways that I don't even think I can count them. But the biggest way was the wake up call. Wake up and live your life not just be a witless passenger. Step out take a chance, set a goal and reach it.
Not only did I not sacrifice "plan A" there never even was a "plan A". Everything I wanted to do when I was young was out of the question... Too dangerous, too dirty, not something a lady would do, etc. My parents were very old fashioned in that my brothers were encouraged to seek a career but my sister and I were not. It was always assumed that we would become a wife and mother, end of story. But real life made it so that we both have had to work to help support our families and it would have been easier if we had trained for a professional career instead of just taken whatever job we could get. Not that we have done that bad, but if we had put that much elbow grease into a professional career with an education behind it we could be leaps and bounds ahead by now.
So I'd have to say that Vin has inspired me to have more confidence in myself and to dare to dream, to dare to believe in myself. Neither sexism or ageism is going to hold me back anymore.
In talking to my nieces, cousins, friends, co-workers, I was amazed to find out that girls are still getting the shaft. It's more of a passive acceptance that if you are a woman and want to pass on college that's alright. Or that there are certain careers that are off limits to a woman. But those same parents would never accept that logic from a boy. They would insist that they go to college and aim high.
I corner every young person that will listen and tell them what jobs are out there and the salary that goes along with it. Comparing office jobs to engineering and it professionals and telling the girls that I place women in those professional positions every day. No job is out of their reach just because they are female. That they need to find that dream that "plan A" no matter what it is and go for it. That they can be whatever they want to be if they are willing to work hard and ignore anyone that would try to de-rail them or break down their confidence in their abilities. Find out what "plan A" is and hold on tight. Know who you are, know your strengths, where you want to go and stay the course.
But that's only the tip of the iceberg. I guess the bottom line is that he reminded me of who I am and what I am capable of. Watch out world there's a crazy quadragenarian hell bent for leather and ready to take on the world!
I think Vin is a terrific person to model ourselves on.
And don't ever forget his sense of humor. He won't let the bastards get him down. He grins and keeps on moving. He truly is a gentle giant and a happy person. He keeps it positive and he keeps moving on, learning as he goes. His sweetness is as much his trademark as his tough looks. I admire what is in his head and his heart, as much as I admire that bod too.
I can say yes. In fact, I can say he brought me back to life, maybe saved it, at the risk of sounding melodramatic. Let me 'splain Lucy....
During the last two years prior to seeing Pitch Black and discovering Vin, I was severely depressed and had retreated into my only little world. I would force myself to get up in the mornings and go to work, force myself through the day and spend my time in the evenings and weekends locked in my room and escape on the internet, doing just barely enough housework, laundry, grocery shopping, etc., to survive. I'd fall into bed and force myself to sleep and the next morning the whole cycle would start again. Unfortunately, I discovered auctions on the net and bid on thousands (literally) of things, spending much more than I could afford...it gave me a sense of power I think, but the expense added to my depression and the cycle worsened (no money - deeper depression - more spending to combat the depression - even less money - even deeper depression - you get the picture). I was sort of stuck on buying movies - Pitch Black was one of them (the powers that be work in mysterious ways). My daughter had been pleading with me to stop buying on the auctions, come out of my room, etc. Being guilt-ridden just enough to get me out of my room (and away from the internet)long enough to watch Pitch Black. I was impressed/curious, enough to get me involved in something (until this point I had no real interest in anything - the auctions were my 'escape' and my prison). I had to find out about the man who played the part of Riddick. The more I learned the more I wanted to know. I found VDEB, and then I had something to my life besides mere existence. So, I can also say that you, the many members of VDEB, have also inspired me. If I hadn't had the fortune to see PB, I may have slipped away. I don't know how it worked, but it did - I snapped out of it. I'd tried counselling in the past, but I can't see paying someone for absolutely nothing - and nothing is exactly what I got from the counselling. I'd go to discuss my problems and the counsellor would ask me what I was going to do about solving my problems, and I'd say I didn't know, What should I do? and he said I'd have to figure out how to solve my problems on my own, that he wasn't there to give me the answers or solve my problems for me. I said if I have to solve my problems on my own, what the hell am I paying you $75 bucks an hour for? I walked out and I absolutely refused to see another counsellor. So counselling was not and will never be an option for me. My opinion - If I knew the answer to my problems I wouldn't need a counsellor to help me solve them! Sorry I digress big time. Thanks to Vin, and to VDEB, I have learned to daydream again. I've gone back to some of my old hobbies, and most of all I've started to write again, something I hadn't done since high school (fan fic about Alias Smith & Jones - anyone remember that show?). I haven't been to an auction site since, except to check on my stuff, I don't sit in front of this computer all the time, I actually have been doing things around the house, spending time with my daughter and have gone back to teaching dance classes (and losing some weight in the process) and gone back to family research. I can't sit here and feel sorry for myself any more, Vin overcame the odds - So can I.
Sure...I think somehow it's hard for him not to inspireIt's like he does it without knowing...That's how he's inspire me...His brain. I love people with knowledge, people I can learn from if I had the chance to pick their brain. He's one of those people. I would love to pick his brain. Sometimes he can say just one sentence and it will make you think so hard and put so much in perspective it's like you just woke from a very long dream. You have to admire a man who knows who wrote A Tale of Two Cities or has so much creativity buzzing in his head that he jumps head first into an adventure where he can both learn and teach. A person whose heart matches their head. He has a lot of strength. The strength to keep pushing for the one thing he wants most in the world, to take as many steps as it takes to get there and I think he may just get there in about three more steps. So, Jump Vin! Jump!...And that's my inspiration. I think about giving up on the whole writing thing because something's just not coming together the right way and I think to myselfVin didn't give updon't you give up either...and I keep going...Strength...that's what he's inspired in me...
While not necessarily an inspiration to me, Vin has definitely influenced my life. Sometimes when I'm having a bad day I can just think of some cool line from PB and it cheers me up. He also got me interested in yoga. I don't do it as much as I'd like to, but when I do it makes me feel great. I don't think it's something I would have ever tried if it wasn't for him.
Vin has inspired me by making me realize that I have to get up off my lily white a** and work to make my dreams come true. He knew what he wanted and worked hard to get it. He's inspired me to step back and take a good, hard look at my life...and I didn't like what I saw. But that's okay, because I realized that I can change my life and that's what I'm doing. I have goals now and I won't stop until I've achieved them. That's how Vin inspired me and I'm very grateful that he did.
Vin has inspired me because of his basic philosophy - that we are all "one race." It is a philosophy that shouldn't need to be declaimed in the year 2001 because by now it should have been internalized but, unfortunately,has not. Of course, I enjoy Vin's thespian talents and appreciate his beautiful body and intelligence- but, it is his spirituality that shines through both onscreen and in his interviews that is my source of inspiration.
many talents and he still has time to make movies. Well when i saw Pitch Black for the first time it was unbelievable I just kept wondering who he was and I kept telling my self he looked familiar like if i had seen him in another movie and I was right in Boiler Room. Well in the movie Pitch Black he was WONDERFUL. He blew my mind with his eyes, his power and everything else. And I think
that movie is my favorite. I don't get tired of watching it at all. Well If Vin ever decides to come to this website then i should say to him. "LOVE YOU." and keep up the good work.
It's funny; how you can look at a person and see right through them. They have no passion, no love for themselves, others, or anything they do in their life. These people don't live, they merely exist. They go through life without stopping to enjoy their surroundings, without learning, without loving, and ultimately, without truly being loved.
This is what I strive NOT to be. I want someone to look at me, to look into my eyes, and see a soul. Not to see straight through me. I want them to see passion, love, feeling, emotion.
Vin is one of the people that possess all this. He has charisma, character, emotion, love, feeling, and passion. He follows his heart, does what he thinks is right, and achieves what he sets out for. For this, he is an inspiration to me.
I just wanted to say that hard work does pay off because look at what you have become a great actor. You could have given up because of all the tautological things that people would say about you not making it. See those people who said that were obtuse and couldn't see talent when they saw one. I want to say is that you inspire me to face these challenges to follow my dreams and believe in myself enough to know I am good and know one could change that. I don't want to have you reading this for hours so just keep being your own person and keep up the great and fantastic work that you are proceeding with. Keep yourself in a category of your own because your talent stands out. I will think of your hardship and know that good things happen when hard work is given, nothing comes easy. :)
ACCOMPLISHED EVERYTHING AND HE STARTED OUT JUST LIKE YOU AND I! So the next time you think to yourself, What a tasty fantasy I could make out of Vin, remember that there is a person inside that perfect package. A
VIN NOT ONLY INSPIRED ME BUT HE MADE A VERY HUGE IMPACT ON MY LITTLE BROTHER'S LIFE. MY BROTHER WOULD JUST SIT AROUND THINKING THAT LIFE WAS UNFAIR TO HIM BECAUSE BOTH OF OUR PARENTS HAD PASSED AWAY ON THE SAME TIME,UNTIL HE WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE XXX. HE WENT HOME AFTER HE SAW THE MOVIE AND WE BOTH READ HOW VIN HAD A VERY HARD LIFE BUT WITH DETERMINATION AND SELF WILL HE ACCOMPLISHED WHAT HE IS RIGHT NOW. SO MY BROTHER WAS SO AMAZED THAT HE SAT DOWN AND MADE A LIST OF GOALS THAT HE WANTED TO ACCOMPLISHED AND I HAVE TO SAY HE IS DOING PRETTY GOOD. SO THANKS TO VIN AND HIS DETERMINATION IN LIFE MY PARENTS ARE PROBABLY SMILING DOWN FROM ABOVE. THANKS VIN.
