Something hit me hard with this past home move in November. In the midst of packing, unpacking, trying to clean out things we don’t need anymore, figuring out how to decorate the new house, all the overwhelming decisions…. all of a sudden, I realized, I don’t want to decorate for a job anymore. I really enjoyed decorating for my own home, but once I got settled, I was done. Finished. Didn’t want to keep thinking about it. For my own home, or for others.
So I found myself in this weird place. I retreated from social media and blogging and email for a while to take a breather and say “Great, now what?” I knew I had just launched my decorating blog last fall, and here I was already over it. I launched it because I liked decorating for a hobby, and others were asking for my help to help them decorate, so I thought, why not turn this hobby into a job? And I took on a handful of projects in the beginning, and while yes, enjoyed thinking outside the box for those projects… something about actually going for it just stirred this huge thing in me that said, “I did it, I tried it, but I just want to keep this as a hobby.”
And back to “Great, now what?”
The past few years have been a few years of exploring other interests between decorating and my online fashion boutique I tried out. I’ve been in this weird phase of trying to run away from photography, because it too became that hobby I once loved to then becoming a “job” and slowly over time losing that passion which once stirred inside of me. So last year, the hubby and I retired cold turkey from everything related to photography. We no longer took on any more bookings, as hard as that was to turn away jobs, because I was simply burned out and needed a break. All throughout the year, people asked me, “Do you think you’ll ever pick up your camera again?” and I was quick to answer “Nope, done with that career.”
But then in the midst of my recent “Great, now what?” I began thinking about picking up my camera again. And this shocked me. I truly thought I was over and done with it. But as I explored the possibility, and prayed about what’s next, all I could think about was one genre I always wanted to pursue more and never really had the time to dive into it. High school senior girls. Those shoots were always my favorite because I loved passing along the gift of confidence through my camera to these girls about to set out to conquer a brave new world ahead of them. And not to mention it’s like fabulous mini fashion shoots now-a-days! It’s a genre I always wished I could explore more, but we were always so busy with weddings and family portraits, though I am extremely grateful for the beautiful part of my past that they were.
So now. I’m going for it. I’ve created a brand new website, Scarlett Lillian Seniors, for this new niche I will now be specializing in, and you can find my new online world as a Jacksonville Senior Photographer over at www.scarlettlillianseniors.com.
And because of it, I will no longer be blogging fabulous home decor ideas over on my decorating blog or taking on anymore virtual styling projects, but I’m sure glimpses of it will still pop up on my Instagram and maybe this blog from time to time if you’d like to keep following for inspiration. I recently just posted a glimpse of how I decorated our new living room, and tagged all the stores I got everything at, so be sure to check it out!
With each new adventure I try, thank you to those who keep me encouraged that it’s not about failing to continue at whatever is it I try, but that it’s about failing to try is the bigger regret. With all my creative interests, I am glad I choose to live a life that says “I did that!” vs always wondering “What if I tried that?” And though not everything may be the perfect fit, sometimes it’s the trying new things that make you appreciate the beauty of when things come back around full circle like photography is now doing so for me.
