Most people feel pretty average. If you look at the facts on paper, this might seem like an accurate assessment. Most of us about of average height, weight, attractiveness. Most of us fall somewhat short of “gender ideals” or other ways of measuring up someone’s worth at a glance. But all of us draw inspiration from someone, someone who’s probably not too different from ourselves.
In TJ Maxx’s new ad campaign, they take a look at this phenomenon. In a series of candid interviews with a bunch of different women, TJ Maxx casts a little light on the remarkable woman in all of us. In the interviews, women of all shapes, sizes, and ages talk about the remarkable women in their lives. Some name mothers, daughters, clients, friends, students, and patients. In every case, the things that stand out to these ladies as remarkable is something that can’t be bought or sold. It’s intangible things like bravery or selflessness which make these women inspirational to the ladies in question. And it’s these universal traits which probably inspire you the most when you see them in others.
In the end, the message is clear. It doesn’t take qualities which make you marketable of impressive to the world, in order to be a real inspiration to others. And in reality, you probably already are an inspiration to someone else, maybe to a lot of people. At the end of the interview (spoiler alert), there is a big reveal. The women that the interviewees were talking about so affectionately had been watching the interview the whole time, behind a hidden wall. When the lights come up, revealing the hidden viewers to the woman sitting for the interview, tears and happiness happen in a big way. There is something inherently inspiring about humanity itself, and it’s something that stands out in us, even when we can’t see it ourselves.