
You know that picture you have of life in your head. The dreamy one. The one you read about on “other people’s blogs”. Oh, if only I was a homeschooling, back to the land, Julia Childish, yoga guruish, perfect husband, children, weather, chickens, make everything from scratch, sew my own clothes, never lose my temper, house always perfectly simple, organized, quaint and spot-free kind of thing. That’s kind of the problem I have with the blog world sometimes. Because in reality, none of us are all of those or even part of those things. My favorite blogs are from “real” people because they are open, they are honest, they dialogue the good, bad and ugly. Life can be beautiful and messy, all at the same time.
It is Flickr, it seems, that has shown me so much more about documenting real life. Doing 30 days of Gratitude this November has shown me how easy it is to document all these parts of life. It’s also given me a new look at how much beauty, how much perfection there is in my life right now, just as it is. The best part is it is much easier to grab one photo and a handful of words to sum up your day, and flip through your Flickr contacts to see their visions of their lives through the lenses of their cameras.
Now I am a 365 dropout. I didn’t make it past March this year taking a photo a day, so I cannot imagine (even though it is a nice thought and possibility) that I could continue a year’s worth of gratitude but I want to continue to make this daily connection with the positive in my life. I want to continue this journey of loving my life just as it is and I am thankful for all the wonderful new contacts I’ve made there through this project.
This year has been a new path in my journey. A path of looking internally. A path of self-acceptance. A path that has led me to believe in myself and this life. I don’t need to make comparisons anymore. When I look at the things I have written, at the photos I have taken this year, they are deeply personal. They are much more internal, much more reflective.
This is me, the way I am. And as one of those real blog friends of mine would say, this is my life.
And I am proud of it.