I turned 30. It happened. Luckily, most people in the world didn't notice because they were distracted by the Superbowl. 30 is one of those birthdays that makes you look backwards and forwards. It is so easy to get busy with all the little things you "have to get done" on a daily basis and never take the time look at the larger picture and think about what you have been doing with your life. If we are not intentional with our time it will unknowingly escape us. I love my life. The last 30 years have been amazing and I'm hoping with a little more wisdom under my belt the next 30 will be even better.
I wrote out some words to help ground me and remind me of what is truly important and life breathing to me. I don't know why but I've always found that goals or dreams for my life are more likely to come to fruition when I write them down on paper. If I'm slacking on my goals the piece of paper comes and haunts me in my dreams. Here are the words I came up with:
Love
I want Love to be at the center of everything I think, do, and dream.
Family
It took me a while to figure this one out. I'm still learning. I've always kind of been a loner and maybe I wanted to believe that I would be okay without people so I could not be hurt by them or something. [Enter psycho-analysis {here}] I still have to force myself to open up and talk about myself to others because I know it's important. It most definitely does not come naturally to me. I think that is part of the reason why I love sharing my photos. It gives me a way to say, "Here...look...this is what I see and feel." Anyways, being married 3 years and having a son has taught me so much about the importance of family and the unique bond shared between us.
Worship
The general feeling behind this word for me within the context of this blog post is that I want God to be involved in all things that I do. Acknowledge his presence in the mundane and the extraordinary. I have two subcategories under this one including 'Serve' and 'Grow in Faith'.
Personal Projects
When your Photos pay the bills it is important to take ones that don't. Personal Projects keep me excited about photography and help me transfer that excitement and creativity over to the weddings that I get to photograph. I realized that when I went on vacation I didn't want to bring my camera. #problem I started a new website for my commercial work and personal projects so be on the look out. www.justinwrightphoto.net
Travel
It's so easy to make excuses to not travel. The two big ones are Time and Money. The third one for us right now is a baby boy named Gray. I feel alive when I travel. I'm also okay using cliches. Lacy, Gray, and I are going to Europe this summer. If you wait until you have enough time and money you will probably never go. Or you will be old and not be able to hike mountains and show off you dancing skills at a late night Parisian dance club with out breaking your hip.
Learn
I think it is always important to be learning something new. Learning new skills and ideas empowers and challenges us to grow. I'm trying to learn more web skills right now which is really frustrating for me because I'm not detail oriented and you can create websites and blogs with vague coding. Part of learning also includes growing and refining the skills I have been working on for the past 30 years.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you have set any goals for your life recently I would love to hear them and be encouraged.
It was definitely worth it....