Letting Go

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

Going With the Flow

4:55 AM and everything is beautiful, even if I could be sleeping instead of taking pictures

My best work comes in the middle of the night. It’s not really by choice though.

Sometimes I wake up after getting three hours of sleep, and when I look at the clock it’s 2:10. It isn’t every night, but it happens.

I used to try to force myself back to sleep. Sometimes it works but a lot of times it doesn’t. I just lie there, getting more antsy and irritated that I’m not sleeping.

One night a couple of years ago I decided to just get up. Getting up when it’s 2:00 in the morning is kind of weird, and if you live with someone they probably won’t appreciate it. For me though it was what I decided to do.

Something happened that night that made me realize it was okay to get up and start my day as I normally would, even if it was the middle of the night. I found I was more productive instead of less.

November 12, 2019November 11, 2019

Whoever Hurt You Isn’t Here Anymore

You can walk a path with friends, but truly we always walk alone. Somewhere in Costa Rica…

So many of us carry the hurts and injustices of the past into our present reality. Much of who we are today was shaped by events that happened long ago, usually when we were too young to control anything around us.

Some of us grew up in abusive homes, where there was no love and no comfort. It is extremely difficult to come out of a situation like that and not carry the emotional scars that go with it.

Others of us were much more fortunate, coming from a loving environment where we were made to feel wanted and special. That contributes to who we think that we are, and thus how we carry ourselves in the world now.

This is why it is so important not to quickly pass judgment on others. It is impossible to know exactly what anyone dealt with during the formative years. They may be products of a very unhappy past.

October 6, 2019

Defining the Present With the Past

Barbados in all of its beauty. The water is never the same colour, and it is always breathtaking

Using history to predict the future is a common occurrence in society. People who play the stock market do it, oddsmakers for professional sports betting do it, and the government does it.

Trends can be useful in many ways to provide a framework for what we think is going to happen.

But at the same time, it can be very limiting to assume that things will happen the way they always have. Even expecting others in your life to be as they have always been can be unfair.

While it can be helpful to have a certain conception or expectation of how things tend to work in any given situation, it can also stop you from seeing new possibilities.

We impose barriers and restrictions on what we feel is possible and what can’t be done. These limits are put into place by what has already occured.

When assumptions are made, the uniqueness of each situation is not allowed to unfold. Expectations can be too restrictive.

September 6, 2019

Beautiful Dory, dashing Robert, eccentric Ernie, and yours truly – unique and living life our way!

Life without worrying about, or even for a moment considering, what other people think of you is the most freeing thing you can imagine.

Why would we ever allow the opinions of others to affect us in any way?

Growing up, I remember how important it felt to fit in, to have a group that I belonged to. There were kids who did their own thing, who were uniquely different, and the other kids were quite cruel to them.

People who operate outside of the box are considered rebellious, and we can become uncomfortable in their presence.

But if you try to be the same as everyone else, the contribution you are here to offer the world is never realized. The full realization of who you are is stifled.