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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of inspirational short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6100+ Inspirational Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From tales of the miraculous to stories of extraordinary people overcoming incredible odds, you’ll always find something uplifting in our collection of inspirational short stories.

Inspirational Short Stories – Page 362 of 407

Who am I?

Submitted to Contest #75

Hello there. My name is Candy Marvoulyn, a tenth grader at west wood high and it’s been a week since I got back from the hospital. I was in an accident and apparently it was bad. “apparently” you ask. Well,you see my friend. I can’t remember anything besides the things my mother told me. People tell me that it’s for the best that I don’t know what happened to me but, I’m really curious to know why. What happened to me and why was it so bad? “Candy, is something wrong?” my mother asks with a clear look of concern. i didn’t know if I could ans...

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The Longest Journey Begins with a Single Step

Submitted to Contest #75

The Longest Journey Begins with a Single Step  These days the phrase ‘reinvent yourself’ is bandied about. There are endless self-help books and blogs which argue that it is possible to leave your old life behind and start a completely new one. Fiona Harrold’s book, ‘Reinvent Yourself’ sets out seven steps to reinvent yourself. You have to ask yourself, ‘who are you now, who do you want to be, be authentic, what do you want, fake it, look the part and finally, move on’. These books are very valuable and they certainly help some people...

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Speaking to Silence

Submitted to Contest #75

new moon: new yearWords, words, words. The ones I think, the ones I am thinking, about her. She has been the only person I have spoken to, but not through these-forms of written language. Language is bordered and hesitant, probably a trickster if you hear it from me. Words and I, we go way back, before even the tiniest bacterium swam the seas. (You wouldn’t believe how talkative trees are) People, they are fairly new to us, but it is quite an achievement for her, being the only human I’ve ever spoken to. And my, did she have a lot to say“So,...

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Evolving to positive change

Submitted to Contest #75

Jack Knolson looks towards the expanse of his world from his balcony. Seated on a comfy cane chair he taps his fingers on the seasoned cane of his chair's armrest. The sun is about to set as his cup of tea chills in the shuttle breeze. For a child, the view could be his entire world. But for 75 year old crippled Jack, it's his dying view. His balcony hung from the second storie of his penthouse that overlooked the valley. From his seat, the streets looked like open veins that carried toy cars between the multitude of homes standing in rows l...

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Pellucid Plans.

Submitted to Contest #75

“My story is scary, horrifying, and sadly true.So, when I was little my grandfather kept coming after my sister and doing ‘very bad things’ to her that I didn’t understand. I knew she didn’t like it and I had to protect her. I found a pocket knife in the garage of their house — one of those little red swiss army ones.I pocketed it and decided I would do what’s right.Next time he came for her, I defiantly pulled out that knife and stood between him and her saying he couldn’t do those things to her anymore. His face filled with hate and venom....

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A Memorable Reversal

Submitted to Contest #75

A Memorable Reversal- "I remember how the sky looked that fairy night. I was under a galaxy then. The sweet breeze carrying a hint of vanilla wasn't as gentle to be pleased with. It was a small town children, but there were indeed too many mouths to feed. It was a fortnight after Christmas when a man arrived, dressed finely. The polished shoes, brown hat, golden almond glasses and poised posture was mismatching in contrast to our little town. The way he carried himself made us gawk at him. He looked over his thin rimmed spectacles and made...

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Creation

Submitted to Contest #75

There was a growing stillness in the world behind me around my head thickening and pulsing with life like an Emerald Green Vein pumping blood for the first time.  Prepare to bear witness to fiery lakes prepare now for all which soon I’ll create. This path will include a way to end death meant to learn early before my last breath. “See child, I bestow this gift of life upon you at a great cost for everything must move in a circle. I’ve been all through time from beginning to end and changed everything but it happens again....

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No Regrets, The List

Submitted to Contest #75

Oscar woke up in bed. He yawned, tussled his messy brown hair and tried to roll over, but as he did something stopped him half way – there was something tugging on his arm. It was something painful! His tired eyes started fluttering open to find out what was poking in his arm. As he moved, his head set on fire in a splitting headache. It was probably a hangover he reasoned, another big night out celebrating the end of high school and going on to university. If that was the case (which it likely was) then he really didn’t want to know wh...

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A New Life

Submitted to Contest #75

At cocktail parties, I’m often asked what exactly it is I do and my response is always the same – that I help people to leave their old life behind and to start a new life. “Oh, so you’re a shrink,” some would say. “Well, I suppose in a certain way I am,” I would say. “Or are you some kind of guru or mystic, who lives in an ashram in India?” they’d ask. With a drink in one hand and a smoke in the other I’d say, “Well, let me tell you then.” And so, like that I’d begin to explain what it is I do. But first I’m always careful to look around...

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It's all over😘

Submitted to Contest #75

    InspirationReedsy competition. AboutWrite about someone whose job is to help people leave their old lives behind .________           CHAPTER ONE         Things seemed better________________________ It’s all gone. Yes, it did at the right time. Am not distressed anymore. Never would I. Crazy I was.The dark sparrow pierced, dark crowds; even when I had seen it but to no prevail.Life lied hopeless.&nb...

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A veiled epoch

Submitted to Contest #75

Clinging vessels were as usual the wake up call for Chinna. He lay on a dried palm leaf mat covered in a faded thin .He could see the clear white sky through the cracked terra-cotta roof. Last night he slept holding his kaleidoscope .. the one he had made from scratch,now lying safely next to him. The other boys laughed when he told them his plan to make one and today he would prove them wrong. Drops of excitement slowly formed on his otherwise painfully deserted heart. He sat up.. the kaleidoscope safe and secure on his lap as he folded his...

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In Which I Dig a Pond and Hope for Ducks

Submitted to Contest #75

I was born competitive. When I came out screaming, the nurse said I was trying to outdo my mother, the sounds of her labor having reached me in the womb and inspired throaty cries that made visitors cringe. Nothing’s changed - well, okay. I’ve stopped screaming for the most part, but I’m as still competitive as hell. Need proof? I race strangers to the door of the grocery store and don’t even TELL them we’re racing. One time, I was having lunch with someone I enjoy about as much as I enjoy stepping in water with socks on. He said “There’s no...

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Knives

Submitted to Contest #75

“Knives” I have this recurring, 3-second long flash of a woman carrying me and guiding a child behind a door. The woman moves, blurry, in auburn swinging strands that wash across my visual field. I can make out a warm glow on the crest of the wall above the door frame. The light wipes in from the hall, as the door hinges open, leading to a black room. The child shifts in her lace-y white gown beneath wavy, copper hair that dances like springs in a communal hopping, toward the dark wall. Through the light, the woman’s wobbly voice grips to...

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The vow

Submitted to Contest #75

"Open your eyes!"Nothing."Sophie! Open your eyes!"Darkness. Light. Darkness. The end.5am. 20°C. A normal morning for tropical North Queensland. It is quiet. The roads are deserted. Only a few early-morning joggers and workers punctuate the Cairns Esplanade. Farther beyond, the sun is rising.Sophie woke up earlier than usual this morning. In today's Facebook post, she writes"It is happening today. I have made up my mind. Wish me luck!😍" before pressing the SEND button. Sophie types up posts ever morning. This is what she does to set herself u...

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Claudette

Submitted to Contest #75

I never thought that my passion to help others would lead me into a job wherein I did same, but indeed this is where I landed and for the past 30 years, I have been helping others be better than what they ever expected to be. The reality is that we carry a large suitcase around filled with all the bad memories, traumas, things we have been told that chip away at our self-esteem, our image, our self-worth and even though we try to remove these items from our suitcase we tend to put more in. We cannot seem to leave this suitcase behi...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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