My Motivation During The Pandemic
I feel like one of the biggest challenges I face today is staying creative during this pandemic. At the very beginning it was honestly super easy. I had just taken so many photos from the Zilker Botanical Gardens and with my posting schedule being twice a week, I was able to draw that out for a while. However, as things got worse, and I was called back into my regular nine to five job, the challenge began to rise to keep up with all that I’m doing. Honestly, it’s tiring. However, this also makes me super happy. I love what I do. Staying creative, I feel, is my way of keeping my head on straight. Whether it’s going out somewhere super early in the morning to take photos or finding different creative ways to take interesting photos indoors. Since the pandemic started, I only took one week off from my normal Monday and Thursday posting schedule. It was nice, but then I immediately had to get back to work. There was a time I didn’t have anything to post, so as I was organizing photos, I (luckily) stumbled upon some great memories from Aruba. Sharing my work has been consistent, which is something I’m glad I’ve accomplished. Though now, with the addition of Lego photos on my Lego Photography account as well as blogs, I am still trying to find the best days to post those. I have a whole plan for that, but that’s a story for another day.
Finding inspiration during this time can be brutal. No doubt, these are some crazy times and it is damn near impossible to avoid hearing anything that is going on in the world around us each and every day. When the pandemic started, I got super lazy. I didn’t really have any time off to myself since we went to Aruba back in October of last year, it was well overdue. Also, I blame Animal Crossing, but that’s besides the point. For a whole month, I just posted photos and did a few creative shots from stuff around the house. Motivation to do anything was at an all time low, just like a lot of people. I see this in two ways. Everyone needs time to do nothing. We live in a very fast paced world, so slowing down and not doing much was amazing. On the other hand, I was lazy as hell. I half wish I could go back and be a bit more productive, but at the same time, I don’t. The only reason I don’t feel guilty for that is because I was called back to work. Now, I’ve been working a nine to five job to pay the bills, but it’s certainly not for me. As an old friend of mine would say, “It doesn’t fill my glass.” In fact, it can drain me. When it was time for me to come in, I struggled. It tested me in many ways, but I had to do something about it. So, naturally, when I feel like I am pushed back against the wall, I did something about it.
I had time against me, dealing with my job as well as being a creator, I needed to find a way to move forward. The one thing I needed to do was create a website. Day and night, when I wasn’t working my day job, I was working on my website and more importantly, doing what was best for me, what would “fill my glass”. Even though I might have my schedule nearly filled each day, I try to find ways to be creative - no matter what it might be. It’s difficult to find ways to shut out the doubts and insecurities, but to me at least, this is the way I can find happiness. My motivation is to keep working as hard as I can to find my way out of a job that doesn’t bring me the happiness I look for. I know I will keep doing what I can until I achieve my dreams. I urge everyone reading this to take time to yourself to do what makes you happy.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading! I’m not sure what I plan to do with this blog, other than writing down my thoughts and feelings on what I do creatively. I’m not sure if this will be a weekly or a bi-weekly thing, I’ll be testing this out to see what everyone thinks. Feel free to let me know. Shoutout to my good friend, Nicole, for inspiring me to start writing a blog on my photography/creative process.
Edit: Also shoutout to Sora for editing this last minute!
“You can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you keep moving, you will come to a better place.” ~ Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender.