Love your life
Monday, July 23, 2012 at 8:22AM 
I love my life.
Two amazing kids, a supportive husband, a great house in a neighborhood I love in my favorite city in the world, a wonderful preschool for Liam where Jack will hopefully go too, work I am passionate about, people whose lives I can change, amazing friends and family, an ever-enlarging network of incredible women entrepreneurs and no real financial hardship.
This is not me bragging. This is me reminding myself that I am incredibly lucky.
It's easy to get caught up in our hopes and dreams, and everything that we want that we don't have right now. We have to hope, we have to dream, we have to want more - without that there is no purpose to living.
But we forget. We forget how hard we've worked to get to where we are now. We forget how much we have now that once were far off hopes and dreams.
The things I have now are things that even just a few short years ago I was desperately craving and working for.
So this is my reminder to myself to remember to stop and be happy, joyous and grateful about the things I have now, even as I work to achieve bigger and better things that can seem so far off and hard.
And this is my reminder to YOU to stop and be happy, joyous and grateful about the things YOU have now.
Your family. Your friends. And of course your kids.
And yes, it does all come back to photography. Photography is my anchor. It brings me back into the moment and helps me see, appreciate and celebrate all that I have.
Sometimes when I'm feeling down, I'll cheer myself up by taking some photos of my kids, and/or editing and sharing them. Yes, it really does work!
You know when it's late at night and you really should be in bed but you start "window" shopping online and really want to buy something pretty?
Instead, I've trained myself to "shop" from my photo archives and find, edit and share a photo. Yes, it really does work!
If you shoot from your heart and stay connected to your emotions and the moment as you do so, a photograph doesn't have to be technically good to be a trigger that you can use later to give you a boost.
Do this now
Today's mini-assignment will show you how photography can help remind you about how much you love your life:
- Think about everything that you love about your life RIGHT NOW. I'm pretty sure your kids are going to be on that list!
- Take (or find) a photo that best embodies all that you love.
- Remember, it's not necessarily the best photo technically.
- Choose the photo that will have the power to remind you of how much you have to be incredibly grateful of every day. Share it with us on the Photosanity facebook page and make it easily accessible so that if you're having a bad moment or a bad day, or even a bad week, you can look at it and get a boost of confidence about everything you are doing right.
Ideas for making your photo easily accessible:
- make it your facebook profile picture or timeline cover
- make it your phone or computer wallpaper
- print it and put it on your fridge at home, or bulletin board at your desk, the dashboard of your car, or in your purse, diaper bag, wallet, or briefcase
If you want to take it a little further:
- print AND frame it to display in your home or at your desk
- get an iphone case made out of it
- make magnets and give them to all your family
If you're interested in joining hundreds of parents just like you in an easy and fun journey towards photosanity, sign up to get FREE updates and access to my FREE video lesson and pdf guide with my Top 5 tips on taking better photos of your kids.
nyc baby, child and family photographer, former architect & mom alethea cheng fitzpatrick is based in brooklyn. her company, nestingNYC, specializes in baby photography as interior design & interior design for babies. she also teaches an online photography workshop for parents. find out more about The Photosanity Workshop or send her an e-mail!
