Here's a gratuitous picture of a 100'x30' waterslide that a bride and groom had setup in their backyard after their wedding ceremony! It's not relevant to this blog post at all but I like it and it's cold in maryland right now.

So the photo dudes over at Fstoppers put out a fantastic article with some truths for photographers worth reading about.
Here is that article in the form of a link you can click!

What I don't think they realized is these principles apply to every day life also. Not just the life of photographers. I tell people all the time to just chase their dreams. Go after what you want because you get one life and who wants to look back and think "I wish I would have..."?

The main topics they talk about are:

1) The fear of failure.

"If you aren’t failing, you aren’t pushing your limits." This is one of my favorites. I've failed at a LOT in life but like most people who fail, you can often find yourself surrounded by people who only see your successes. This happens a LOT. No one wants to focus on the failures it took to get to success but they are real and the less we talk about them, the less people realize they need to happen for learning and growth to happen.

2) The fear of rejection.

"But you’ll never find them if you don’t brave the possibility of a “no.” Rejection happens, but it’s through rejection that we find those that value us the most." Guys understand rejection very well. We should all be so lucky to learn at a young age that the worst answer we can ever receive is a "NO". And "NO" is not that bad of an answer. Life is about coming up with better solutions beyond the "NO".

3) The fear of losing money / The fear of raising prices

"Believe in yourself enough to invest in yourself. If you’re willing to invest in your work, other people will be too." Oh snap! Another life lesson!! I combined these two topics because in life outside of the photography world, this is about valuing yourself as an addition to the human race. Believe it or not (regardless of what your friends, parents, enemies, or self-esteem says) you are valuable to the human race. Your goal as a human is not to skate through life but to ADD to life. Who's life? Anyone and everyone. Naturally you'll affect other people if you do something or nothing. So why not be intentional about the influence you have on the world? YOU are worth it. YOU are worth an investment especially from yourself. Get that into your head. Then go do something amazing.

4) The fear of success

Defining success is important (not everyone wants a mansion. Have you ever had to clean a house with TWO bathrooms??). Just as important as defining success is making sure not to self-sabotage. There's a great article about it HERE. Enjoy that. Sorry for so many links. I enjoy reading a LOT.

Have an amazing day, invest in yourself, and do something amazing!!!