A couple things I committed to doing at some point in 2021 since I was miserable was: saying no more often, doing less work and doing more fun shit. I used to love to monetize every moment of everyday. A vacation with my mom? Let’s secure a partnership to offset the cost! Family photos around the holidays even though I’m stressed AF? Pack my schedule because I can’t say no! Photos of my outfits even though I have no energy or desire? Drag the nearest person and the camera for a shoot!
Since the start of the pandemic, I was forced to slow down. I hated it at first, but I’ve come to appreciate the slowness, creating healthier boundaries around my time, schedule and work load. Let me share more about where I’m at in my journey with these healthy habits:
Saying No
I find myself giving in more often than not especially with photography work, trying to fit in more families in a day to accommodate their schedules and turn photos around quickly. I would just remind myself of the additional income, but it started to not matter at all to me this fall.
I set boundaries last year for how many photo sessions I’m willing to shoot in a week, on a day and in a month and I’ve been sticking to this as much I hate to disappoint clients. I’ve increased my rates, another boundary I needed to address for a couple years. I also took most of November off to visit family and rest. I used to find myself making excuses for why I couldn’t book a session, but I realize I don’t know owe anyone an explanation!
I’ve also said no to blog partnerships and projects at work where I feel pressured to do it all. I might disappoint someone for a moment, but I make me happy and that’s what matters.
Doing Less Work
This goes hand in hand with saying no. I used to feel energized by taking on freelance projects and a range of photography work and even blog partnerships, but they haven’t been as fulfilling and I’ve enjoyed having more down time. I might feel more energized to do more in the future, but I’m going with my gut on how I feel and right now, it’s a lot more rest.
I’ve streamlined what I’m willing to do as far as photography goes. No more weddings, with a focus on casual family photos and portraits. I have photographers I recommend if I’m not a good fit and that helps saying no or passing on work so much easier.
I used to set goals for this blog and you know what, that’s not fun for me at the moment so I fly by the seat of my pants and now that’s just about my 12th anniversary of this blog, doing what is fun for me is what keeps this going. It’s a hobby that continues to challenge me, but I want to keep it fun and light. Again, that could change, but right now, I don’t want to produce the amount of content I have in the past.
Making Time for Fun Stuff
I’ve never felt the pull to trade weekends full of freelance work for laidback fun, but I made a lot of time to go up north where Rob’s family mostly lives and spend weeknights and weekends cruising on our old jet boat we bought. The summer fun reminded me of what I’ve been missing out and now that it’s winter, I very much love low key weekends (which is fun for me!) I hope to make more trips up north, day trips to Grand Rapids for good food and shopping and maybe longer road trips in 2022, something I haven’t been able to do with the pandemic.
What healthy habits are you prioritizing?
Photography by Rachel Noel Photography
