I like to take time to get to know my clients either before or during their photo session. You know, the typical small talk about what they want to do in life and after high school. That is, if I am talking to a HS senior. While talking to a senior girl the other day, she got a little teary eyed when I asked her what she was going to be when she grew up. I felt terrible! All these things were running through my head at what would have made her cry with that question. She said that she didn't know. OMG! That's all? (I didn't say that out loud.) "It's ok", I told her. That is an awful big decision to make. Here you have been in school since you were 4-5 years old. If not sooner, if you went to preschool. You have never experienced life, I mean, really true grownup life and have always been under the protection and guidance (and don't forget the rules) of your parent or guardian. Now you are expected to decide on your own what you want to be when you grow up. Gee, I am (UGH) going to be 44 this month and I am still trying to figure out what I want to be! :-) I have two girls (21 and 17) and very proud of what they have accomplished in life and what they will accomplish as they progress into adulthood. I know from my own experience that you may set out on one direction in life and due to obstacles or fate, you turn towards another path. And that's ok. I wanted to be in commercial art/photography when I was in high school and then with "persuasion" from Dad, I ventured towards pre-med. Oh yeah, that was a mistake in judgement but I stayed in the medical field and became an EMT (emergency medical technician). Oh the love of the adrenaline rush was a great addiction. From there the only path I could see taking was becoming a nurse. (Dad said there was no career or money in photography.) So after 19 years, I have been an emergency room nurse and paramedic. BUT, I have always had a passion for photography and would pose my girls and then my nieces and nephews for portraits to give out at holidays. And then a sideline of photos for family and friends. It was a part-time "hobby" for the past 27 years. (Oh my that is a long time-probably longer than most of my clients have been alive.) For the past few years, the hobby has progressed into a part-time career that thrilled me to the bone. (Ok so the old woman is not up to date on the cool lingo.) I started rethinking what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to do a job that made me happy. Something that I didn't mind getting out of bed for. Of course, I reviewed the different paths I could take in the medical field. But why take on more responsibility of a career that I did not enjoy? When my dad's health started failing over the past year and right before his death this past January, I decided I needed to make a change in my life. I talked to him about it and he agreed, I needed to do what made me happy and not what other people (especially him) expected me to do. He never said he was proud of me to my face, but he ranted and raved to everyone else that he came into contact with. That all changed a few months before he died, he told me he was proud of me and would always be, no matter what I did. So here I am, ranting to cyber space and owning my own photography business. Wow! Am I happy! (I still work part time as an ER nurse....cannot give up the license and skills that I worked so hard to accomplish but I am so much happier with my life and the direction it is going.) Anyway, back to the main purpose of this ranting...you need to do what makes you happy in life. (But keep it legal and healthy.) And it's ok if you don't know what you want to be when you grow up. Take a breath, release the stress, you will know when the time comes which career path you want to take. Oh, parents, don't throw hard, sharp objects please. Just hug your kids and love them...no matter what.
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