Fear Freezes

Four weeks have gone by since I was able to post to this blog.  I apologize profusely for that.  But out of that comes a life lesson I think is important for all of us, as photographers and all areas of our lives.

Four weeks ago my family suddenly faced a major life crisis.  One that was thrust upon my children and I by no choice of our own.  Yet we were forced to deal with it.  Dealing with a major life crisis is a much larger task when there are ten children involved.  So to say it was all consuming is an understatement.  I emailed our blog leader as soon as possible to fill her in.  She was more than gracious.  Being a very responsible person myself, I fully planned to post another blog the next week. 

That week passed. Then another.  My mind started to analyze and play over the events of the week before and what if you knew what happened, how would you view me and I worried what people that I had never met and probably would never met would think and my mind kept spinning and spinning and spinning and

Set in.  

And I was frozen.  Even though I wanted to blog again I was stuck.

See, even when our fears are irrational they can send us into a place of inactivity.

How does this work in our photography?

What about that photography job you really, really want?  But you are afraid your work is not good enough.  You are afraid other people have much better work.  You are afraid that people will judge your work.  You are afraid people won’t like your work. 

Guess what?  You are right.  There will always be people that judge.  There will be people that do not like your work.  There is always room for more learning and improvement in your own work.

BUT – and this is a big BUT, there are people that will love your work.  There are people that will judge and say, “WOW!”  They will see the beauty of what you have created.  And ultimately, if you love what you have created, that is what truly matters.

Each and every one of us got into the photography program at AiO for a reason.  I am willing to bet the reason is deep, personal and different for each of us.  Whatever that reason is, I challenge you to dig deep and find it again today.  Bring it to the forefront.  Remember it.  Keep it in front of you.  Photography is a beautiful art that you are passionate about.

When our passion is great and it is something we love, we can push past the fear and move forward. 

It’s just another Manic Monday ……

Monday Ambassador