Project 3: Photography Blog

The next project that I choose to work on was a photography blog. I crave being able to use photography as an income source but am so frightened of even having others see my work. Weird right? I think it is because I feel like there are so many great photographers out there including my Mom and a friend both of whom I somehow would have to live up to.

The thing is I don't have to live up to them. I need to be myself and find my focus and creativity in photography and get my work seen. If it does not turn into a way to make money that is okay. At the very least some people with see it and I will know I am trying.

So I have started a photography blog and posting regular posts. I still get nervous and sit in wait until someone "likes" my post or decides to follow me but it is nice to see the images out there.

You can check it out at Emilia Brasier Photography.

Here is one of my favorite photographs:

Project 2: A Blog About Life With Kids

My next big project that I had been putting off for at least a year was to create a blog about my life with my kids that could also be a resource to other parents and caregivers. I wanted it to be something that as a parent I would find useful and something that will keep a record of some of the things that I do with my kids and how I think of them. I really wanted to include so much into this blog and was being held up by this silly little thing: the title.

Well after hearing that radio show I decided to just sit down and do it. I thought about a lot of different titles but none were very clever or they were but did not fit the topics I would be writing about in the blog. I finally just went with Blogging with Children: Photos, Food, Child Development, Reviews and More.

Very ho hum, but a success because it was done. If I had waited for the perfect title I would be waiting still. I started adding in posts and pages and felt such a flood of relief to have it started. I also felt a huge amount of anxiety sharing it the first time and second time. 

So the title is not perfect but it is okay and it is getting the job done. 

A little something to leave you with, a quote from Suze Orman of all people, "Fear hates more than anything else to be defeated." 

How are you working to defeat your fear this year?

My First No Fear Project

My first project during my year of no fear is probably not what you would expect (which is probably this blog). It was actually a project that my husband approached me about. He proposed that we get involved in starting a non-profit, non-partisan, political group that would try to get politicians to listen to the the people of the United States instead of large corporations, or other entities, who fund their campaigns.

I have always been very interested in politics and I definitely have my opinions about most issues so I looked at him with a bit of skepticism. Non-partisan? Really...why would I want to being doing something that would not just support my own ideals. Well needless to say he convinced me that my ideals will not matter at all if politicians are unwilling to listen to anyone because they have to support the entities that support their campaigns. A new ideal was born. The ideal that people are citizens and should be who politicians listen to, not corporations and other large entities pushing the ideal of a company for greater gain of that company.

So I said I was willing to help him, however my voice inside was thinking...whoa this is a huge undertaking that you have no experience in. Can you even come close to achieving the goals that are set out right now. It took me a few tries, but I was able to plug away at my part of getting the website up and going, with a logo, content, polls, and point of view (and a new blog). The whole process took a crew of us, each doing a part and I was a part! I was amazed at how empowering it was to work on something like that.  Even if we don't achieve our goal it has helped me tremendously with confidence to do other things.

You can check out this website at www.buybackourcountry.org. I have found that this is a project that I really do believe in and I hope really works and that I am so proud of my contribution to. It has helped me feel like I can work on other projects like this blog.

What is an empowering experience that you have had lately?

Starting My New Year Without Fear

While driving home from a workout with a friend just a couple days after the New Year I was listening to the radio. The announcer was talking about the best resolutions that you can make for the New Year. I am not one to make New Year's resolutions so I had not really thought about the idea of a resolution at all. I even almost changed the channel because I felt like it did not apply to me and I have very little time alone where I get to choose to listen to anything other than children's music.

For some reason I kept listening. He talked about how deciding to not hold back because you are afraid. He said that many times taking action despite fear will yield great fulfillment and for him has made it possible to have the career that he has now and loves.  He said that he went to a therapist to learn how to do things even when he was experiencing fear and it was one of the best things he has done for himself. He was not recommending to do things that we are afraid of because they are dangerous mind you but rather to start taking those classes that have been put off because of fear of failing, or making a career change that might seem scary, things along these lines.

For some reason this really resonated with me. Actually I know some of the reasons quite well. Fear of failure and doing something without being perfect at it from the beginning has been a constant in my life. I hate trying new things because I feel like I am supposed to be just as good as anyone who has been doing it for 30 years even though I just started. I know this is ridiculous but I usually feel so worried about how others are might be evaluating me that I would prefer not to do it so I can't fail.

I also have been trying for the last eight months to get up the nerve to start a Photography blog and business and a blog about parenting but every time I sat down to do it there was some reason that it was not going to work. I could not come up with the right name was usually the what the perfectionist in me would use as an excuse.

Well this guy on the radio was enough to push me into committing to change all of that. I am going to take new opportunities even if they scare me and I am going to put myself out there trying to create possibilities of success for myself.

This blog is meant to be a record of what I am doing and where I am needing to continue to push back at the fear. Maybe if I am being held accountable here I will be more likely to follow through. Maybe it will even help other people to make the same choice and join me on this journey of taking risks despite the fear.