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FAR Photography, Life

Do your dreams change?

 

art-supplies

 This is a post I wrote last year and something that has been on my mind constantly for the past few weeks! My hubby put it very aptly the other day – it is as if you are following your dreams and headed in the right direction, when something distracts you! You see what someone else is doing and you think ooh why can’t I do that as well! Something I always say to my girls, when they are studying is – “focus girls focus”! Well it seems I need to take some of my own advice. I am not saying that you cannot diversify or change direction but you need to be careful, that what you are doing is not merely a distraction from your real plan and purpose!

This is a question I have been pondering the past few days. I think this thought process was instigated after my daughter hauled out a few of my art pieces from high school the other day and then insisted on taking them to school to show her art teacher! After I got over the feelings of complete and utter insecurity, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride. These were after all my creations and my daughter saw fit that they were good enough to share with her teacher. I am completely aware of the fact that I am “no Picasso” but I felt proud none the less!

It did, however, make me reflect back to my, somewhat naïve, yet hopeful outlook at the tender age of 15 or 16 years, when the world was my oyster. My aspirations of becoming a world-renowned fashion designer, with my own thriving chain of boutiques! At that point in my life doing anything that was creative, was my ultimate goal in life. This really got me thinking – well are my dreams still the same or have they changed and morphed into something completely different? Or are they buried beneath all the stuff life throws at you? I think that maybe I have changed, as my circumstances have changed but I think my dreams are still alive and well! If anything I think we add to these dreams as we grow and mature.

So what now? When does living your dream become impossible, well never, as far as I am concerned – if you want something badly enough you will make it happen? Luckily for me I have daughters that both enjoy fashion and have a creative flare, a husband who is extremely supportive – which I feel makes living my dream even more plausible. It may not be the exact same dream that I had all those years ago but I believe it will be better than ever because I now have special people in my life to share it with!

 

Images: Photography & Drawings By ©FAR Photography

 

 

Be Inspired, Life

Learning to Say NO and Being Happy With It

Learning-to-say-NO

This is one of those life lessons that you could spend your entire life learning and admittedly it has taken me until this major milestone in my life, to really grasp the concept!

If you like me are a bit of a people-pleaser you will understand how hard it is to say no to people, especially if you are someone, who always puts the needs of others before your own. The one fundamental flaw with this approach to life is a difficultly to say no to people, both in your personal and professional capacity.

So what is the big deal you may ask? Well the biggest problem with not being able to say no, is that you often compromise yourself in the hopes that others will like and accept you. Yikes! Surely nobody wants that for themselves!

Well in a word NO.

This is where it becomes a bit trickier because in your personal life, saying no is somewhat simpler, it can however mean having to disappointment those you love, like saying no to the kids when they want to buy something from the store or have a friend over or turning down a dinner invitation because you are exhausted. Most times people do understand where you are coming from and you realize the world will not come to an end if you say no to them.

The more difficult area in which too put your foot down, and say no, is in your professional life. I see it every day when people compromise who they are just to get ahead and please no judgment, we are probably all guilty of this at some point in our life. If you are happy with this and you can sleep at night, be my guest! However for me, this is no longer acceptable, especially when it starts affecting the plan and purpose for your life.

Learning-to-say-NO2

It is great to feel validated and wanted by always pleasing others but not at the cost of your integrity! You have to realize that saying no is ok and if people like you less because of it, well then too bad, those who are meant to be in your life will stick around no matter what!

 

Be Inspired, Life, Lifestyle, Super Mom

What Motivates Me

like-me

One of my loyal readers who comments often, yes it does feel good to get comments, left a comment on this post, which I wrote quite some time ago!(13th of October 2011 to be exact) It was great as I said, to receive the comment but the best part was reading the post again 🙂 It made me realise that I still struggle with things like acceptance or fear of failure, whether in real life or in the bloggersphere! Reading this post again was rather sobering and also made me realise that you constantly need to reaffirm what you are doing and why, to avoid losing your way completely! 

So with that in mind I thought I would share it again!

Please Like Me!

This is all most of us would like, for people just to like us! Well, thanks to modern technology and the popularity of social networking, gone are the days that liking someone in real life, is enough!

After chatting to friends recently about my blog, I had a bit of a reality check about what exactly my motivation for starting Super Mom was. For me it was always about finding something that I could do – just for me, something I enjoy and that stimulates me both intellectually and creatively. Exploring the things that inspire me and using them to engage with the world out there, was always my main aim for Super Mom.

What I have found however is that most of the blogger- sphere is very focused on ratings, traffic, how many followers you have etc. I am not going to lie and say that I don’t care about these things but you can so easily lose focus of why you are doing something and what motivates you to do it.

So what to do? I guess, go back to basics and the reason I started Super Mom in the first place, to inspire and motivate others out there, especially mothers! Which I hope that I am doing! In saying that I hope people realise that I am not in fact a “Super Mom” but I am the best darn mom I can be! I may not be a professional photographer or a master chef but I love doing all these things and sharing them with the world.

I love doing what I do and that is the most important thing. Yes – I want you to like me and follow me but not at the cost of my integrity. Anyway -life is too short to feel like everything you do is a competition.

So – the things I write about may not be world changing or life altering but they are my way of inspiring and motivating – myself and others. Thank you for being a loyal and cherished reader!  😉

 

 

 

Be Inspired, Inspiration, Life

Dream Big

Dream Big

My hubby and I have decided to set ourselves a few goals for the year ahead and the one thing that we both agreed on is that if you dream you need to dream big! It costs you nothing to dream and there is no point in dreaming within your comfort zone and limiting yourself – you need to look beyond your immediate circumstances and allow yourself to discover wonderful hidden talents. So no matter what other goals you set yourself for 2013 – remember to DREAM BIG!

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