I posted this image on Instagram yesterday and something about the look on Nilah’s face struck me. Technically speaking it’s not a great image, but I’ve recently realized that sharing what I do is more important–plus she moves mighty fast; I had a quick decision to make.
She has a look of total innocence and curiosity about what she can do next (she was dancing and running around at the time). I felt proud to see her so happy and to have captured it, but what struck me is how precious these moments are, and that I’ve been missing some of them–perhaps a lot of them. To be precise my thought was: “Don’t neglect the small moments while chasing after your goals.” I’ve had these reflective moments before, yet this time it was more intense. It was guilt.
Turn away from what you know, and God/The Universe has a way of steering you right back, showing you something about yourself whether you’re ready or not. This is what I love about photography. I suspect that’s true for others in their own areas of creativity. I’ve been so focused on freelancing to then building MakeMoves Design from the ground up, that I haven’t spent enough time with the family. I even stopped shooting for a while. Even while with them my mind was constantly on business. It’s a selfish, fatal way to think because the business won’t mean anything if they’re gone.
Entrepreneurship can trigger a dangerous degree of tunnel vision if you’re not careful. I’ve also been an introvert since long before the term became trendy, so that made it worse. My solution is to force myself to be more open, be more aware of what’s happening right in front of me and appreciate it instead of having this constant activity in my mind. The greatest ideas usually come out of stillness anyway.
Sometimes it’s healthier for everyone to just be present in the moment.
