December Goals & Why We Can't Start
While I’m not quite ready to fully reflect on 2018, I do have one more round of monthly goals to help me finish the year off right. If you’re like me, you may start to feel like December is a sort of throwaway month, and you might as well wait out the holidays to double down on goal setting. But in an effort to follow through, I think it’s important to stay goal-oriented through the holidays and spend the extra downtime to gain some clarity on your situation.
Mental Blocks & Fear
Last month, a couple of my goals included working on my capsule wardrobe and experimenting more with photography. I honestly feel like I’m just starting to make some leeway in those areas. And you know how I was finally able to get started? It turns out, I needed a big change in my thinking. Specifically, how I approach experimentation when creating. You see, I had some serious mental blockage going on because I let the fear of failure stop my from ever trying.
Getting It Wrong to (Eventually) Get It Right
This realization dawned on me when earlier this week as I fondly remembered how exciting it was when I got my first film SLR camera. I could not put the thing down. I experimented with everything, and with a limit of 24 frames I made sure to put a lot of thought into each shot. But I was also just having fun and that’s when the wheels started turning and the creative juices started flowing. I’m forever grateful for learning to love photography this way.
So I’m trying to hold onto that feeling of fearlessness when it comes to creating. Realizing that the only way we can find our style, our routine, our groove, is to just keep on experimenting. We have to make a whole lot of stuff we don’t like to figure out what we do like.
My December Goals
Create More Videos. While I’m definitely not venturing into #vlogmas territory, I am feeling really inspired to create more videos for my YouTube channel. I’ve never felt very comfortable in front of the camera, or even speaking to people for that matter. Creating videos has been a really great exercise for building confidence and working my creative muscles at the same time. I also really enjoy it, who would have known!?
Make Photography a Priority. I want to continue to push myself to take photographs on a more regular schedule, like once a week. I’ve also made it a major priority to start shooting in different locations around San Diego. This month is all about experimenting with everything from scouting locations, posing and styling photos, and editing.
Celebrate Friendships This Season. So much of this year I’ve felt like I’ve been isolating myself from people, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. I’ve made the excuse of being too busy with work, feeling too tired after work, and vigilantly guarding my free time. But I’m pretty over that feeling, and so I’m making December a month of socializing and enjoying the company of others. What better time to start, really?
What are your plans for finishing off the year laser focused?
Do you identify with any of the reasons for not being able to start?
How do you get through a mental block? Let me know in the comments!
As always, thanks for reading! xx Jessica