Living the dream, the ability to turn your dream world into reality. This post is going to part of a multi part series documenting my journey to living my dream life, whatever that may be. I am not going to set a time frame for when I will write these posts because I am not sure when or if the next point in my journey will be. I just know that my journey is still in the beginning stages. I am at the starting line of a race where the finish line has yet to be determined.
The revelation that I am in the “working towards the dream” stage of my life came to me the other day, while having a conversation with a friend of mine. I was at my second job (or third depending on how you look at it) serving tables and he simply asked me what I had done that day. I began rattling off all the events of my day, editing out anything I felt was uninteresting. When I was finished he simply smiled and said “living the dream!” He was right, in a way.
When describing what I do, more often than not I only mention the good things; failing to bring to light everything else that makes me able to live my life and grow as a person. Usually my description is something along the lines of “I work as a photographer for a studio in Opelika. I go into work around 11:00 am and get off around 5:30 and all I do is play around with pictures all day.” What I fail to mention is everything else that I do, everything else that helps pay for me to get by, grow my skills, and generally keep my sanity.
Truth be told I am working towards my dream, and working hard. On top of the job I have at the photography studio I am serving tables and pulling in some freelance design work from time to time. That’s 3 different jobs for those keeping track at home. I am also working on a 365 day photography project, where I take a picture everyday for a year. With this project I try and challenge myself to try new things and experiment to help grow my skills as a photographer. Then there are my other interests like going for a bike ride or run and cooking. Making sure my beautiful girlfriend is happy. Oh and I can’t forget about my amazing blog, that’s a tiny bit of work as well.
Everything that I do makes for a crazy, busy life. But truth be told it is totally worth it. Becoming a photographer has always been one of my dream jobs but I never knew exactly how to get a foot in the door. To be honest, the opportunity to work as a photographer just fell in my lap all I did was take full advantage of the opportunity. I work hard to keep doing what I am doing. To improve my skills both behind the camera and with the people I am shooting. It takes a great deal of work to live the dream, hence the term working towards the dream. Dreams don’t just happen, you have to work in order to be where you dreamed to be.
This is not to say I have found my dream job. Yes it is amazing and yes it is a job that I never in a million years would actually get the opportunity to do but it is not the top. It is a step in the right direction. I am still working towards the dream, the dream of being an action sports photographer. That day will come eventually. Until then I will continue working toward the dream and living the dream all at once.
Oh and by the way the image in the header are all the water bottles, mugs, and cups currently on my desk; a sign of my hectic life. Here is just a small collection of things I have been working on lately. Oh and to those that actually read my posts and enjoy them, thank you and thanks for sharing with me that you enjoy them. It really means a lot and helps keep me going. ‘TIll next time…