Missy Desiree Photography

The other day as I was browsing through my mail as I do on a daily assurance I stumbled across an email stating daily enlightenment. Curiosity got the best of me as I felt I could use a ray of light to shine upon me right now. As I opened the email a quote in bold texts jumped out at me and read “Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly thank you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does.”

Then for some reason my eyes started to water and I felt like God was sending putting his hand on his childs shoulder and pushing me into the light.

The same day I was feeling a little blue for so many reasons. One being that everyday I sign into Facebook I am greated with the successes of my friends. I am so proud of them and their work and so thankful to have them as my friends, however the thought of “when will I be like that?” enters my mind almost everytime. When will I take pictures as good as she does? When will I start having back-to-back weddings or engagments to fill the void in my heart? When if ever will I ever own a studio or make friends with other vendors.

When I read this quote it was almost like a mothers kiss on a bad boo-boo. It took away the pain and it made me feel better. Then I realized that most of these people who I admire for their success or abilities have been in this career of photography for many years.

That is when I remember reading the blog of one of my favorite photographers Jasmine Star (who is famous in the photography industry) daily she gets asked many questions by fans and aspiring photographers like myself and she is always so gracious and humble to answer them. One of the questions which is now burned into my brain was “In your first year of business how did you drum up business?” her answer “To be honest, I didn’t drum up anything my first year of business. Except for Drumstick ice cream. I was all over Drumstick ice cream my first year of business as it helped bury the ups and downs of starting a business. Ice cream makes everything better. Everything.”

And it makes me feel lucky because I have had success in doing what I love even though I haven’t yet been here 6 months! I owe that all to a lot of people who have helped me and been there to support me! I hope to continue to be so lucky!

They say that patience is a virtue…but it is one in which God did not grant me but that which I am learning! This is my dream and going after your dreams is a scary jump off the edge! You’re going from knowing to the unknown off an unsecured line and hoping that your fluffy dream cloud will break your fall.

But to be honest even if I somehow fail miserably and fall flat on my face I’ll stupidly climb back on up and jump once more hoping that this time won’t hurt so much because that is what you do for something you love!