2021 Focus Word | A Wedding Photographer’s Resolution

For the last four years instead of choosing something to do for my New Year Resolution, I chose a word to focus on. In 2020 my focus word was deliberate. I wanted to be deliberate with my actions. How I spent my time not only in my business, but with my family, and my intentions. Looking back over the year, I feel like I accomplished that. As the end of 2020 approached, I realized that I had not yet decided on a word. I had a rather hard time picking. With so much uncertainty this year and the unknown of what 2021 will bring it made the decision difficult. Usually my word will just come to me and resonate within my soul. After a lot of reflecting upon my goals, I found the word staring right back at me. It is the title of my new wedding guide: devoted.

3 Ways of Being Devoted

01. Family Time

So, what exactly does devoted mean to me as a resolution? It means that I will be gazelle intense (Dave Ramsey anyone?) when it comes to my family, myself, and my business. Let’s start with my family; after recently getting the opportunity to work from home at my 9-5 job and kind of set my own hours, it has made me realize that I had just been going through the motions before. I rarely had a moment to spend any quality time with my children. We would wake up in the morning and get to school/work, then afterward it was rush home to quickly shovel down dinner and go to bed. Rinse and repeat Monday through Friday. The weekends weren’t much better either. I split time with them with their dad, so I only get them every other weekend.

Once August came around, I was booked every weekend until December 19^th, and I am definitely not complaining about being able to provide for my family, but time has been very limited together. They’re young and I want to spend every minute I can with them before they’re too cool for their mom. In the new year I am going to devote myself to being present with them and making more memories together. It doesn’t take much to make them happy, running through the sprinkler together or cuddling up on the couch to watch Sesame Street completely fills their buckets. I am super excited to see all the new experiences we have together and memories we get to make together!

02. Devotion to Myself

For the past five years or so I have been dedicating myself to others and making sure their needs are met. Now it’s time to be devoted to make myself the best me I can be. Not only to be there for my children well into the future, but so I can feel happy with myself. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge advocate for loving the body you have. I am not unhappy with my body. However, I want to be healthy. That means moving more and eating better which naturally will result in some weight loss.

Another part of being devoted to myself, is my mental health. Stress has been a huge weight on my shoulders, as it was for most people in 2020, and I want to make sure I take time for myself. I’m a big crafter and will be pouring more energy into that. Finishing some crochet projects that I started *ahem* a long time ago (read: years ago). Maybe even learning some new arts like wood burning which I’ve always wanted to try.

03. Dedicated to You

Lastly, as a wedding photographer I will be devoted to you. Throughout 2020, I made major changes when it comes to how I run my business on the back end. I started with getting a better client management system, creating client cards with poses that I think would work well for you, plus I got feedback about what my couples are wanting from their wedding photographer and made the necessary changes. While I am excited to keep those going, I will be adding some more positive changes as well. I want to continue to work on building even deeper relationships with my couples and help them throughout their planning process.

In 2021, I am devoting myself to make your wedding photography experience the best that I can give to you. There are a lot of Michigan wedding photographers out there to choose from, so when someone hires me, I truly view it as an honor. You are trusting me with one of the most important days of your life. That is a job I don’t take lightly.

The Light Ahead

The start of the New Year has me feeling hopeful. There was so much hate and depression in 2020, that I truly hope that we can rally as humans together and lift each other up. There is light at the end of the tunnel, I have begun to see a glimpse of it in the distance. If we work together, we will all come out on the other side of this pandemic. I’d love to hear from you too, what kind of resolutions have you made for yourself?

Check out this page to learn a bit more about me!