Maybe it's just me, but....

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It has taken years (practice, classes, learning, studying, trial and error, painful critiques, huge love & desire to keep on going...) and a final big kick in the butt from life for me to finally reach out and start living out my dream: working as a photographer.  (I still have a problem with the word "professional" but that's not my issue for today.)  In the past I've talked about the painful issue of setting policies and rates.  So what else is there to say?  And why am I blogging about this on THIS blog, rather than the one that is supposed to be about photography stuff.  Ok... I'm getting there...

We all know that I seem to relate songs to whatever is going on in my life (unless you are new to my blogs, and then maybe you haven't yet read that one!), but I also find myself often thinking "how would this relate to what I want to write about?"  Let me explain.  Last weekend I was in the mountains on a photo adventure.  It was a beautiful day in the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, and I was successful at getting to two different waterfalls.  The second waterfall required a bit of a hike (at least a mile both ways...although the mile back turned into two, because I was told that it was a prettier route, not that it was so much longer...and much of it straight up!) and being a writer at heart I would find myself thinking as I was on those trails about how there were so many analogies of life. Here are a few:

1.   As I was on my way down to the waterfall, there were times that I would wonder if I had somehow gotten off the trail and ended up in some kind of creek...the water was running across the trail in spots.  I thought of how often in my life things would not quite seem right, but I didn't always stop to check to make sure I was still on the path I intended to be on.  Often I would ignore the signs and keep on - only to later find I had gotten off of the right path, and ended up somewhere I didn't intend to go. 

2.   Both on the way down and on the way back up, it was very necessary to keep my eyes on the path.  It was most often not smooth walking...there were very obvious things like trees that had fallen across the path, huge rocks jutting up, or roots that stuck up just enough to trip you really good.  In my life, there are the same types of things: huge barriers that cross the path I'm on to make it difficult to keep going (i.e. disappointments in relationships: betrayal, dishonesty, break-ups, etc.)...difficulties that arise and keep the path from being smooth to keep on (i.e. sudden unforeseen changes: death, accidents, surprise expenses, and so-on...)

3.   Then there were the areas where the trees would get really thick and the sunlight could barely come through...making it almost look like night.  Very tempting at those points to just turn around and give up.  And I think of the times and circumstances when my life gets too busy, or too crowded from the things going on - whether good or bad - and I lose sight of my focus... sometimes even want to give up.  It's so easy to forget that there is daylight coming and keep on with the journey at hand. 

I just got back from several days at the beach, and the weather was beautiful.  It would have been impossible to ask for prettier days (and nights).  But again, walking down the sand at the edge of the ocean (something I LOVE) could get a little less enjoyable when you stepped on one of the sharp broken shells...and the beach was covered this trip.  But I reminded myself to watch where I was stepping... pay attention to what was going on around me... and when I did step on one to remember that the pain wouldn't last forever.  Hmmm... I'm catching on!