| Opportunities vs. Obligations: The What’s Next Tour |

Where to even begin. About a week and a half ago, I sat in the front row of Justin + Mary’s What’s Next Tour and absorbed every word during Mary’s talk. It was exhilarating. It was that little extra umph I’ve been seeking and I dare not look back.

Mary talked a lot about fear. What fear is, what our fears are and how unproductive and silly fear is. Our generation is quite an interesting one. It’s full of entrepreneurs, go-getters, passionate helpers and the list goes on. But it’s also a generation that thrives on the word “busy. Mary said it best in that “We are a ‘But, I generation’” and “We wear busy like a badge of honor. Busy is not successful.”

I’m on the avenue out of being “busy.” Don’t get me wrong, I work hard and will continue to work hard, but “busy” isn’t how I’d like to describe my life 30,40,50 years from now. I want to and will be a photographer that tells stories. Stories that are true, stories that are genuine and stories that are shared. I may be busy in it’s true form, but it will be a busy with purpose, a busy that is productive. I will not be a busy that doesn’t have time for friends, coffee dates, getaways and family time.

Mary truly had incredible thoughts and advice to share with all of us that day and I’m so glad she did. For me, the most gut-wrenching thing she said hit me like cold water on a snowy day.

“Stop thinking of your dreams as opportunities, but as obligations.”

My parents sacrificed for me. They gave me a college education. They’ve given me a support that has never waned. My husband works full-time and has given me the gift of running my business and pursuing an art and craft, an art and craft that I pour my heart into.

I feel as if I could keep writing and writing about this subject, but I feel as if it’s conversations I want to have with those around me instead of having the computer as a filter. I am growing, and I am learning and I simply want to say that fear will no longer cripple me— In my business or in my life. I will document beautiful love stories and I will constantly pursue my craft so that I will never say my work is “good enough.” I will create photographs that are beautiful, that evoke emotion and tell a story that has to be shared.