Learning to Live Well

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how different my life is now than it was when I was working as a software engineer. It’s been almost 10 full years since my beginning the journey of becoming a photographer. I never could have imagined the changes those years have wrought. They have been years of…

Learning to Live Well

I recently re-read early blog posts from just after I began full-time photography and realized that I was still driven when I began my photography journey. I was driven to achieve, to prove that I was worthy, and to build a “successful” business. Fortunately somewhere along the line I began to let go of the need to achieve and realized that I was worthy no matter what I did or did not do.

Perhaps it is because when I was young and busy working to support our family and raising children there was little time to sit back and contemplate. Or maybe it took living all those years wrapped up in achieving, working, and exploring to understand what really mattered to me. When I was immersed in the corporate culture everything was about achieving, excelling, and fitting in and there was little time or value placed on joy.

In my creative endeavors I now view mistakes as a chance to learn and grow. In the corporate world making mistakes could cause you to lose your job. So it took me years of corporate detox (that’s the best description I’ve come up with) to get to the place I am now.

Living without ambition

Bird Feeder

Approaching seventy, she learns to live,
at last. She realizes she has not
accomplished half of what she struggled for,
that she surrendered too many battles
and seldom celebrated those she won.
Approaching seventy, she learns to live
without ambition: a calm lake face, not
a train bound for success and glory. For
the first time, she relaxes her hands on the
controls, leans back to watch the coming end.
Asked, she’d tell you her life is made out of
the things she didn’t do, as much as the
things she did do. Did she sing a love song?
Approaching seventy, she learns to live
without wanting much more than the light in
the catbird window seat where, watching the
voracious fist-sized tweets, she hums along.

   — Marilyn Nelson

I think the turning point for me was when I decided to choose joy. Slowly, slowly I began to let go of striving and I learned to appreciate the process of creation more than the product I created.

And I began to feel grateful for each day, each moment. Every new day brings me opportunities to appreciate what is, no matter what the day brings. The light in the sky, a soft pink sunrise, fallen flower petals, a walk in the woods—gratitude for each moment.

The past 10 months of pandemic have enhanced my journey of learning to live well. Sometimes simplifying and limiting what one does creatively brings learning. Simplifying and limiting what I can do in my life has similarly helped me learn even more about what brings me joy.

Are you learning to live well? Have you also found the limitations of the pandemic life-enhancing or has it been a challenging time for you?

Wishing you joy in learning to live well.

May you walk in beauty.