Tuesday, January 19, 2010

are you following your dream?

"...as a stay-at-home-mum with no business experience attempts to make a living off some passion and a dream."

that's what i wrote last time. it got me thinking about how my journey started over 2 years ago. with this photo, ella on her 3rd birthday:


of course, i had a play with these shots. with some funky borders and cute quotes and i put a bunch of favorites in a sweet little keepsake album. and my friends said "wow that is really cool, can you do that for me?" so i did. and then their friends said "wow, how much does she charge?" and then i had to decide. was i really going to go for it? i had a point-and-shoot camera, very little knowledge about the mechanics of taking photos and a really distinctive style of dressing up my photos that people liked.

but more important than that, i had this little thing, niggling inside of me. nudging and whispering. i am not sure where it came from or when it started, but i just felt like i was supposed to take pictures. but i was busy, being a mom and moving to the other side of the world and trying to make some friends, and i wasn't really listening to that whisper. i also ignored the whispers about not going back to work teaching and about trying to have my own business... because that is just crazy talk, right?

but when i took those shots of ella and people liked them it was like the whispers turned to shouts. go for it. try it. this is what you are supposed to do. was i hesitant? absolutely. nervous? of course. but when i gave myself permission to pursue those niggling feelings i also felt relief and excitement. and i was lucky because i had fantastic people in my life that told me to go for it - 3 girlfriends in particular have really supported me and encouraged me and passed my name on to everyone they know (thank you my sister/friends H, J & A, i really would never have done this if it weren't for you).

so my question to you is this - do you have a whisper/nudge deep inside of you? a feeling you can't explain and usually ignore that you were just meant to do something? do you need some inspiration or maybe some one fantastic to be your 'people'? (i can be your person, by the way.)

i have recently stumbled upon a couple of great blogs & writers who have some really fantastic things to say about doing what you love. go read these, right now:

his 2 manifestos have really given me the jolt of energy and inspriation that i have needed these last few weeks:

this is another great blog - i am going to read his ebook "the zero hour workweek" next

and finally, this blog is quirky and odd and fun and she talks about 'destuckification' and 'biggification' which is pretty cool

by the way this is ella, 2 years later, on her 5th birthday. i'm pretty proud of how far i have come and can't wait to see what i learn next =)



3 comments:

  1. Nice post Karen, and congratulations on following your dream & listening to your voices.
    Another good source of inspiration & information I've found is at http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog
    - the book "Vision Mongers" is a great read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well written Kar- really interesting!

    Although I love medicine, my whisper has always been to write! I would love to write a novel one day...and I plan to!

    love your work

    J

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always said the best job in the world is one that you LOVE doing. So happy that you followed your whisper! (J - I hope to read that novel someday)
    Leanne

    ReplyDelete