During this Covid-19 pandemic I have had a lot of time to think. It has been a blessing and a curse because my mind tends to go down a rabbit hole of worst case scenarios and my anxiety rears it’s ugly head again.
I have tried to concentrate my thoughts on more productive things like my business and it’s future. My goals. My relationship with God. And while I have been thinking of my future plans for Christine Lee Photography I have also had time to reflect on the past.
My sweet husband bought me a Nikon D3400 for Christmas in 2016 and at first I just wanted to take as many cute pictures of my son as I could. All it took was a few kind words from my friends and family to give me the confidence to pursue photography as a career. My passion was always there, I just needed some prompting.
One of the things that I had to truly learn is to STOP COMPARING MYSELF TO OTHERS.
That was a hard lesson. There was a photographer a few cities away from me who started when I did but she was immensely more successful than I was already. I didn’t know what she was doing differently or why she was already so successful and honestly, I still couldn’t tell you. I just know I had to work through that and instead of wondering WHY she was where she was I needed to be happy for her and her business.
I needed to love the place I was in as a business owner and focus on getting to where I wanted to be.
I have to say that was single handedly the best thing I could have done for my business and for myself. To stop comparing myself to anyone else.
We can admire other’s success, other’s growth, other’s beauty, without questioning our own.
In fact, being geniunely happy for others and their successes, big and small, has made my life so much sweeter. I can look back and see the difference in my work. I can see when I let go of the comparisons, when I let go of the self doubt and just poured my heart and soul into every session. I love seeing that growth. I can’t wait to look back 3 years from now to see how I evolve from here.
If you’re on a growth journey right now, whether it is business related or not, and you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others…stop.
Give yourself some grace.
Especially right now during quarantine, it’s easy to see other moms who are cooking full course meals, exercising every single day, while also home schooling their children and smiling the whole time.
Good for them! That’s amazing and so hard but guess what. So is not doing ANY of those things. It’s okay if you are just getting by through this. There is beauty in all of it. Comparing ourselves to others does nothing but bring us down.
When you start thinking what someone else has done better than you or more than you or whatever it might be just tell yourself this:
“STOP. You are amazing and capable of anything you set your mind to. Where anyone else is in their journey is not related to you in yours. YOU GOT THIS.”
It might seem silly but it helps. Even if you just tell yourself to stop and then move on. Just don’t dwell on those comparisons.
For funsies lets take a trip down memory lane! From my first logos and first portraits to now.
This was the original logo. I wanted the dandelion as a representation for my son. I still adore this logo and it will always have a special place in my heart.
I’m honestly not sure why I decided to change the original logo at this point other than I had fallen in love with the pastel colors. But I didn’t fall in love with that as an editing style, at this point I don’t think I really even HAD a consistent editing style.
See? I was still working through the editing/style part!
The final logo…
I finally found an editing style that I loved and I wanted a logo that was consistent with that style. I wanted to incorporate greenery because the rustic, woodsy locations were always my favorite. I wanted to include strawberries because Plant City, FL is where I started this business and strawberries are also known for being sweet. That is how most of my clients and friends have described me as a person and it is something that I strive to be daily, in all aspects of my life.
I am finally at a place in my life, in my business, where I can look back and see how far I have come and I can truly say that I am happy where I am. I will continue to grow because I know that I can always learn more and be better but I am content and happy to be where I am right now.
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