a new year.new blog post.new goals.the 365 project

i've been meaning to write... yes, really i have. it's just... you know, that thing called LIFE... it sometimes gets in the way of really important things for really-super-important things. but that's not good, and i want it to change... you make time for what's important to you, yes? yes. during this sabbatical I've come to realize how vital blogging is to keeping up with my photography. blogging helps me to have something to take pictures for. I was just thinking the other day how ever since I had let go of blogging how my photography has slid too. however, with the new year came a slew of new resolutions (and i can always think up so many)... one being to get back on board with my photography and to once again fill this blog with weekly posts. 

one way I intend to accomplish this goal is by starting the 3.6.5 project (a photo a day, for twelve months). it's something Mr. Self-discipline has been telling me I needed to do for a while now. what better way to get started on that than with the new year, yes? :) now that I have begun this new and long journey, however, it feels less like a self discipline and much more like a piece of me i've found stuffed away in the back of a closet. it's a small piece of my soul that i'm trying to nourish back to life. it's withered so much and i believe the reason is simple; the king of all joy stealers - Comparison and {too much} self criticism. it takes all the joy out... who wants to do something if you never feel like you'll be adequate to do the job you want to do? what is the point in doing something if it makes you feel guilty? the words you tell yourself are powerful and if you continually tell yourself you can't do something/you'll never be good enough... you just won't be. your brain has created a barrier and the stream of creativity and life has been barred. it's a bit of a cliche' but it's ever so true. and something I'm always having to re-learn. 

and so, i finish this blog post as i began... sipping a mug of steaming peppermint tea, glancing out the window at the soft drizzle, drizzle of rain... and... taking in the joy of blogging again. please pray for me that I will learn to cheer myself on and that my creativity would be re-filled. that i would do what makes me afraid... and in turn conquer what binds me. I know God has given me the gift of art - the gift of photography, and it is wrong to let that go just because i am afraid of failing {really, that is only pride, if you get down to the heart of it}.

i plan to start updating regularly with my 365 project {not daily, but weekly}.

-Rebecca