Excuses

Do we make the excuses in life? Or do our excuses make us?

I could tell you that the reason I've been MIA for so long is that my memory card that goes into my camera also doubles as the memory card for my phone. That's the truth, but only sheer laziness could have prevented me from swapping the card between devices for a quick photo shoot.

I could tell you that work has just been too overwhelming for me. With 6 hour work days for countless weeks now, that is also true... but I could always take pictures on Saturdays (my only guaranteed day off).

I'm just not creative enough to find a new subject every day. This wasn't giving me the insight into my creative being that I expected. I have other things I'd rather be doing.

Which way do you see it? I made these excuses up -- in my mind, at the time, they were legitimate reasons to stop my daily photography. But these excuses made me. They made me break one of my New Year's resolutions after only a week. They made me change my focus, they made me give up on myself.

There are much worse things to give up than daily photography, but the fact still remains that these excuses, as benign as they are, change the way we think about our lives. How many things in your life have you given up because of an excuse or two? Language pursuit ("I'm just not good at languages")? A good book ("I don't have time")? A diet ("I just can't do this, I like food too much")?

Don't let your excuses make you who you are. If you want something, go for it. Stomp out that little voice that tells you all the reason why you can't achieve something, and just dive head-on into it. Do not fail.