Is Your One & Only Life Worth It?

I was a bit confused as I watched him walk carefully over the jagged granite rocks exposed by the low tide. When he finally stopped, he took out his camera and he began to capture images of the weathered lighthouse precariously situated above him on the shore.

When he made his way back to where I was standing we stuck up a light conversation about how beautiful the scenery was. At some point I asked about his journey out over the rocks to take some photos and he just smiled. When he showed me a few of the images he shot from that vantage point I started to smile, too. They were stunning, taken from an unconventional angle which added an element of unexpected magnificence. 

“Sometimes all you really need to do is to put yourself in position to succeed.”

There are easier ways to take a photo of a lighthouse. But he wasn’t looking for easy, he was looking to create something far more spectacular.

That’s exactly what he did.

I’ve been thinking about the significance of his words. Not in terms of photography but in life. Of being willing to put yourself in position to succeed and grow, even if it means walking an uneven and challenging path to do so. Reflecting back, in the moments I’ve opted for easy I’ve done so at the expense of what could have been spectacular. Personally and professionally. But my greatest evolutions have happened when I decided to embrace my own authentic and expansive nature and move forward into the uncomfortable and unknown.

The results have been far more spectacular.

Life doesn’t really care what we do with it. Our time is our time and we can stagnantly accept what comes our way or instead decide to be willing to create and live a life we know we have the capacity to create and live. 

One is a bit more work.

But isn’t your one and only life worth it?

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash