I know how hard it can be to be in the thick of things, with two toddlers running around like wild animals. I know how it feels to cry with them when we’re all having a hard day. I know what it’s like to feel like a terrible mom because I yelled because I was overtired, overwhelmed and stressed and they pushed all my buttons. I know how easy it is to forget that I am doing the best I can. I also know that I have the best job in the world as their mommy and that that can be hard to remember in the thick of things.
I’ve had days where I wonder if I’m totally screwing my kids up, when I wonder if they will ever know how much I love them, because I don’t know if I showed it today. I wonder if the giggles and hugs outweighed the yelling and anger, or was it the other way around.
I love printing photos and displaying them on the walls of our home, and on some of those really hard days, I look to those photos to remember that there are lots of giggles and there is a ton of love in this household. These moments in time, the smiles, the laughter, they remind me that I am raising happy kids who are enjoying a joy filled life.
I can take photos that remind a mom of the love and laughter that they share and the sweet connection. I do it for myself, working on my self portraits, and I do it for other moms and families. I focus on families so that I can serve others with photos of shared giggles that, on the really hard days, will serve of a reminder of the wonderful job they are doing raising these little humans.
This will most likely be one of many posts that I write on the subject of my “why”, not because I need to remind you (the reader) why I do what I do, but because I need to remind myself. Having a business, any kind of business, is no cake walk. When it comes to my photography business, maybe 20% of what I do is photography/art. The other 80% is marketing, communication, learning (about photography and also about business). In the hustle, and in the trap that is comparison, it’s easy to loose sight of why I do what I do. It’s easy to want to quit, to give up, even when I know that I am at the point where I am just starting to move the needle, to create a business that is sustainable and will be built upon year after year.
So I write this for me. And I plan to write this down at least once a year, my why, why I do what I do. And whatever it is you’re working on, whether that’s a business, working toward a promotion, working on building your family, or even just working on being a better human being, maybe this will inspire you to take a good look at your why and help you maintain your motivation.
These are a few of the moments where I know I’m doing something right.
My Why . . . This is a big reason I started doing self portraits. When his terrible twos are getting to me, I can remember that we share a lot of laughs. I can actually hear his giggles, hear him say “mommy” when I look at these photos of the two of us together.
