We all experience frustration and disappointment at some point in our lives. During such phases, when we feel low, some of us seek an alibi, while the others look for a purpose. In the process of finding comfort and meaning in our lives, we come across certain figures who emerge as the guiding lights that encourage and inspire us.

For me, Jane Goodall has been that inspiration since I was very young. Hers is the path that I like to follow. I have been constantly in awe and inspired by her tireless effort in saving animals and the planet. Today, even in her eighties, she seems to possess more energy and passion than most people half her age.

Yet, not many people know about her.

It was in the 1960s, when an ordinary English woman dreamed of working with wild animals in an exotic environment. Initially, Goodall had to hope against hope to achieve this dream; but her patience and perseverance eventually bore fruits. An opportunity knocked her door and she got to embark on the journey of her lifetime. At the very beginning of her profession, she got to live among chimpanzees and study their behavior and characteristics.

In Tanganyika (now Tanzania) she studied the chimps’ behaviour, making startling discoveries about their emotions, their way of communication and their skills which definitively proved that the chimpanzees are the closest animals to human nature.

She initially had made her mind to spend the rest of her career pursuing chimp studies and other research on wild animals, but an unexpected turn of events caused Goodall to change her focus and lifestyle abruptly and irrevocably. In 1986, she attended a scientific conference in Chicago, where other field researches shared their stories of devastation of the habitats around their study sites—of chimps hunted for wildlife trade or sold in captivity to zoos or medical research labs, where they lived in horrendous conditions. She, after hearing this, made up her mind to shift from an isolated life of scientific research to a public life of activism for chimps, for conservation and ultimately, for the humane treatment of animals, people and the Earth. Since, 1986, she travels 300 days a year, sharing her thoughts, ideas and observations with people all over the world.

Her life has been beautifully showcased in a film entitled Jane’s Journey, released in 2010. Her main slogan has been “Hope”—hope for the betterment of the world—and she has been working so hard to fulfill her hopes into reality despite her old age; and that’s what touches my heart the most.

Her message to the world speaks volumes, “Never forget that every single day that you live, you make a difference you impact the world and you have a choice of what kind of impact you make and that your life matters and that you can make a difference,” she once said. “It is a mantra I hold very close to my heart.”

Jane Goodall living her life “in a way that matters” challenges us and inspires us to do just that ourselves. So, let’s ask ourselves, “Have we made a difference in our own unique way in our sphere of influence?”

When we hear or read stories of people who have turned their adversity into opportunity, doesn’t it motivate us? And when we do become motivated, what can we do to become agents of change?

Maharjan is a student at the Kathmandu University