You know those "I could be rich if I had a nickel for everytime someone said" stories that people tell. Count me in. Well, maybe not rich, but at least able to buy a tank of gas these days! When people heard I was switching careers and leaving the steady paycheck and benefits for a chance to start all over and see the world through a camera lens, they would tell me I was courageous, brave, doing an admirable thing, etc. Maybe so.
It's not EASY to start over. The hours are longer, less predictable and it's just me performing the myriad of duties that need to be done on a day to day basis. This change has stretched me! It's made me see and think differently. It's put me in contact with people and new friends that I may never have known before and it's been the catalyst to re-create my purpose in life. Not a bad thing to do in one's mid-years.
Maybe that's what they were talking about with that "courageous" talk. Life throws us those challenges every once in a while where we can stretch ourselves and grow or recoil into a ball of negativity and fear. I didn't just wake up one morning and change my life. No. It was more like living through the long winter-spring seasons of the change process. Not pretty but at least 2 steps forward and 1 back- enough to stay on the path of change.
So I was looking at some images I made a few years ago and found myself measuring my change process by what I found interesting to photograph. Before, I never would have photographed in the subway station of DC! Nothing green or growing down there. But after my metamorphosis I found new emotions, new instincts, new friends, new scenes that influenced and STRETCHed me. Courageous? Brave? Take just one step down a different path and feel the freedom!
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