Batten down the hatches! Stock up on provisions! Stow your carry on luggage underneath the seat in front of you or in an overhead bin! Portland is expected to get 4-12″ of snow this weekend so get ready to shut down the city! The first thought that went through my head when Abby told me we were getting snow this weekend was, “I can’t wait to walk through the city and take photos.” Which got me thinking when the last time I took snow photos was. Oddly enough it was downtown Buffalo 6 years ago.

I am excited to take some new ones to compare how my editing, shooting style, and eye have changed over the years. One of the benefits of photography is that if I want to check how those things have changed I can easily put two photos next to each other and see.

Unfortunately it’s not always that easy to see how you have been progressing with other aspects in life which can easily destroy motivation, drive, and ultimately how you view yourself. That coupled with the fact that we are always surrounded by social media and seeing others succeed can be a quick combination for wanting to give up. That being said I wanted to share my thoughts on finding progress and realizing, “Holy shit things really have gotten better.”

One of the things that I have been trying to do recently is go back and look at old photos, dishes, my long frizzy down to the shoulders hair that for some reason I thought looked good even though it clearly didn’t,  just to see how things have improved. I think it is very important to remind yourself that you have progressed because it’s not always clear and right in front of you. If you are ever thinking, I haven’t improved, I’m not as good as everyone else, things never change, do me a favor and look back at when you first started that career, or hobby, or whatever it may be. You will be amazed. Or horrified, depends on what your hair looked like. If you are a chef, pull out some of your old menus and see how well those food combinations held up. If you a business owner read one of your first business plans and see if you would approve that loan. If you are a hairstylist go back to when you first started, would you let yourself cut your hair? Yes you absolutely need the mentality of keep moving forward, but if you ever get stuck in a rut I suggest looking back. Sometimes you need to remind yourself of where you have been and what you have done to regain that drive.  I sometimes wish that I had an experience bar somewhere like in a video game so I could see when I get to the next level, unfortunately Apple has yet to invent it. So for now I will look back and say, look at what has changed in five years and how much can change in another five.

Thank you guys so much for reading. I apologize for the delayed post, I got in a new band for my watch and grossly underestimated how time consuming it is removing all those tiny pins. Hopefully we get some snow this weekend so I can post some cool winter shots on Monday. Also a new recipe post finally! Getting the blog in order one day at a time. Stay warm out there everyone!