Happy 2019 folks! I’m usually a huge “new year new me” fan. Nothing motivates me better that the clean slate feeling of a new year. It reminds me getting of getting a new exercise book at school and making pledges neatness. New book resolutions to an 11 year old me were taken pretty seriously… I will underline neatly, I will put the date properly, I will remember a decent pen… Starting off good is always much more appealing than pulling something back once it’s gone wonky.
But this year I’m reframing. As this new year starts I’m reflecting and wondering what else I could possibly ask for from myself or from life? I could think of things, I wrote a little list on my phone that included visit Kew Gardens, have a family photoshoot, run more, read more… But none of it’s new because I don’t feel like bigger change is what my life needs right now.
Instead I choose something more subtle. In 2019 I’m slowing down a smidgeon. In 2019 I am choosing to practice to art of enjoying, absorbing and appreciating. Do you know who’s great at just being in life? Who’s utterly fantastic at reacting to life as it happens by feeling and expressing all the highs and lows in real time because they’re just so invested in the present at all times? Children. They’re excellent at it. They don’t worry about what will happen in an hour if they don’t get dressed now, they don’t care who’s looking if they full on scream when they stub a toe and they are unaware of any reasons why anything fun should ever ever stop.
After a year of pure hustle and progress, this year I’m regressing a bit. This year I’m worrying less about productivity and focusing more all the old cliches like counting my blessings, smelling the roses and being in the moment. It’s not new thinking, it’s time old wisdom where the trick lies in remembering. But I’m still the same totally Western modern day affected, child of the MTV era, borderline millennial I was, so I need assistance in the form of my camera which always acts as a brilliant tool for slowing me down and making me look around. The promise is for real days off. Days with mine. Days being us. Days with camera in hand purely for my own pleasure. Then sharing here because it helps me to be accountable and I truly enjoy sharing my work even though I forget to most of the time.
“Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become.”
And here’s how we ended the year, New Years Eve day out spent slowing down and enjoying togetherness…
Find out more about my commissioned work here… Farlie Photography!
