06/10/2016
Hello Friends! It’s almost the middle of the year and I’m not sure where the time has gone. Well, that’s not entirely true. A funny thing happened as I began to pursue my Passion Quest Challenge, life got in the way. In mid-January, my mom had a health scare that put her in the hospital then rehab for almost 7 weeks. Needless to say, my mom’s well-being and healing process took precedence over my personal agenda to timely tackle all the things on my PQC list. Interestingly, however, after taking stock of the last few months it has become evident that I have accomplished more than I realized. You see, to prudently complete my list of 52 challenges my intention was to fulfill one activity every week for a year. The reality is that some weeks have turned out to be more productive than others. And I have actually accomplished some of my challenge items, just not necessarily in the timeframe or specific manner I had initially envisioned them to occur. For example, on my list I wanted to photograph 7 days of sunsets…guess what, I actually photographed more than 8 sunsets over the mountains while traveling (if I call it “Roadtripping”, then it counts as another completed challenge) with my mom in Utah last month. The remarkable thing is that it was completely random and I didn’t even relate the two until I got home. I even photographed several sunrises in Utah as well as in the Bahamas…not bad!! Oh and riding a horse, did that too. Ok, it wasn’t a long trail, but I did it and it counts, right?
I donated to a cause when becoming a member of the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah and to a local art museum. Pretty cool!
I cleaned out my closet and made my clothing donations to several local organizations. Got rid of the temptation to hold on to clothes that I might “grow” into again one day. It felt empowering to take that step!
On a professional note, I’m working on updating my e-commerce website, StudioEklectica.com, and am adding new items to my product line as well as a “build your own product” page, allowing the customer to match a stock image, or their photo, with a product for a unique and personal gift. More to come once the new site is up and running!
So you see, the significant lesson here is that you can plan and prepare, yet the unknown has a quirky way of interfering and sidetracking our best intentions. Despite this, by setting these ideas and actions in motion, the universe conspires to make things happen in curious ways. Discovering that I’m not as far off track as I had thought is a very pleasant surprise. I have a ways to go to catch up, but I’m feeling confident that by December 31st I can look back and feel proud of all I’ve accomplished this year. In the end, it’s not the quantity of activities that can be checked off a list, it’s the quality of the experiences, how they make you feel and how you grow because of them...it’s about finding joy and living a fulfilling life. This is the gift we all deserve to lavish upon ourselves.