Embarking on the new

I wrote in my last blog post that it’s OK to take a step back (and it is!)  I wrote that I was going to be taking a little break to just be mama (and I am… in fact I have been).  I wrote that I have been struggling with finding the right words to blog (and I have been… BIG time).  However, I think the real truth of the matter comes from not just the fact that I was struggling with balance and actually needing to take a real step back to just breathe in my own family life and be a mama for a bit.  I think a problem I was facing that I was unwilling to accept was the very real fact that I was a little lost with photography!

It happens friends!  In any creative field, we hit a plateau!  It’s easy to fall into a pattern of doing what you do and just kind of groove along without pushing any boundaries.

Before I left Virginia Beach, I had all these goals and ideas.  I had big plans and notebooks full of actions and steps and strategic ways in which to put those plans in place.  Of course, we decided to get the ball actually rolling on moving to Celebration and then all those actions and plans had a very real timeline that got pushed further back.  I’m not great at deadlines and timelines friends.  I can admit that and actually being able to admit that to myself is huge.  It’s a big deal because now I can actually get help with that in the future!  Knowing your strengths and weaknesses in business is a really important part if you want to actually succeed and grow!

When we did move, I lost sight of all those ideas.  I actually lost sight of my whole vision in photography!  I became so focused on making sure my family was adjusting and settled that photography took such a big back seat to everything else.  You know what… that’s OK friends, just like I said in my last post!  It’s OK to re-prioritize your life when big life changes happen!  It doesn’t mean you can’t come back!

So what changed?!  How do you come back?

The only way I can answer this is that it’s different for everyone!  I can only share my own personal story in hopes that it might help you!

We moved to Florida in April, so for me it’s been almost 3 months that I have taken a complete break from all things photography.  I barely blogged, I haven’t written in my notebooks, and I’ve only picked up the camera for my family outings (and to be brutally honest I have barely even picked up the camera to take pictures of that!)  I truly believe that the separation from my camera and the pressure to blog has helped me feel more excited to pick it back up again!  I also want to tell you that taking those months off did not harm my business one bit!  Not at all!  So if you feel like you need to take a break but are afraid… don’t be!  I barely posted anything at all (not even on FB or instagram really) for 3 months and I even moved out of state and am starting from scratch all over again but I’m doing just fine friends!

I realized one night that one of the main reasons I had been feeling so hesitant about picking my camera up and blogging was because I had fallen into the trap of “comfort”.  I had found my grove and that was all I was doing lately.  I wasn’t doing anything that pushed my comfort levels or inspired me!  I knew there were sessions that I had wanted to try;  sessions inspired by my son that were personal projects that I had attempted before but just didn’t fit the bill in Virginia Beach.  These sessions I had filled notebooks after notebooks of ideas but I was always afraid to try.  Sessions that required me to be more creative than I had ever been which is something that doesn’t quite come naturally to me.  This is when it really hit home.  When we aren’t pursuing something that pushes us or scares us a little, we aren’t really creating work to our full potential!

As creatives we live for this work!  It’s our passion, our outlet and expression of the heart!  We need to truly push ourselves and that means living a little on the edge of fear!  We have to push ourselves each time and constantly grow and learn!  When we aren’t doing that, we do risk falling into this trap of complacency and comfort!

So that is why I’m embarking on something completely new and different!  In fact we all are, as a family!  Tuck and I sat down and decided to make a big purchase!  He’s going to learn some photography (whether he knows it or not) because it’s time we start to do some things together!

I’m actually shooting a new session series called Fantasy Sessions/ When I Dream (Which if you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen a preview of the first session I will blog about on Friday!!!)  I’ve been dying to do these sessions for years but they just didn’t make sense until now, where we live here in this magical area where it does make sense!

Sometimes you just have to switch things up and embark on new things!  Sometimes you have to leap and see what happens!  Sometimes taking that break allows you to realize what you really want to be doing!  Sometimes taking that break shows you exactly where your new adventure can begin!  It may be scary, but friends scary can be sooo soo good!

Just have a little Faith… no matter where you are in your journey!  Every part of that journey has a purpose!

Just have faith and trust in yourself!