Living in the moment is something I need to work on. There are a lot of things that will happen in the next few years that prevent me from enjoying my life as it is right now. The future terrifies me. The global pandemic has not helped these fears. I am working on being present and being grateful that things are okay right now. I have to focus on living in the moment. This is not always an easy task. I have to calm myself down and focus on the good things in my life. I have to do this so that I don’t miss out on the important things. I always get extra stressed towards the end of the year. That is when things tend to go downhill health-wise with both of my parents. If you know my story, you know how serious this is.

In an effort to keep living in the moment, I posted a story on my Instagram about doing a Q& A here. I got a few questions, but more than that, I got messages of support. THANK YOU to everyone reading this. It means more to me than you will ever know. I have met some of the most incredible people in Instagram. People that believe in me, lift me up when I’m down, and people that I am thankful to call my friends. You guys are amazing and I hope you know what an impact you’ve had on my life! To the questions:

What do I do for a living? I am a paralegal. I have been a paralegal for 14 years and I love getting to help people. That bein said, I’m currently trying to switch careers. I want something with more flexibility time-wise and a better outlook on the income side of things. I also want to own my own business and be my own boss one day. I would love to move forward with photography, but I’ve never really photographed people and I’m a little worried that I would be horrible at it. I also don’t really have many people to use as models, so that makes getting much practice in almost impossible.

What’s my favorite thing about where I live? Does my family count? I wouldn’t be here if my family did not live here. I do enjoy the Shawnee National Forest. That is about 2.5-3 hours away and is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I will never forget the first time I went to the Garden of the Gods. That view is breathtaking. I basically have to drive pretty far to get to decent scenery. It’s not a horrible place to live, but if you want to do landscape photography and you love being outdoors and hate the heat, the Midwest is not for you. I would love to be able to move to a place with more nature photography opportunities and a cooler climate. The summers here are brutal. Hot temperatures and high humidity are not for me. We have a few months out of the year where it isn’t too hot or cold and you can actually enjoy being outside. My favorite season is fall and that lasts about two weeks. It’s just not for me.

How old are you? I am getting old. I’m in my early thirties and I have a birthday coming up in the next few weeks. That’s scary to even type. I thought I would have had so much more accomplished by now. I realize that the situation with my parents, my career, my financial situation, and my huge fear of failure have held me back. I’ve taken huge steps to improve my life this year and I still have a long way to go. One day at a time!