Have you ever really thought about the reasons you do things, and the reasons you don’t? It’s an important thing to think about and might make you consider shifting the way you think, and the way you act.

This is pretty much my core belief, my reason for doing what I do. I spent years of my life making the decisions that were the safe option. Taking the short term easy solution to something rather than thinking about my long term happiness. I always had a “but” for everything.

Why do something I love? Why work for myself?
But what if it fails?

Then I realised that “but” never ends. “But” has an answer for absolutely everything. So eventually, you can end up always taking the option of least resistance.

“I want to do this, but I know I’m getting in my own way”

If you change the word “but” to “and”, see what it does?

“I want to do this and I know I’m getting in my own way”.

It becomes a call to action rather than a limiting belief.  It’s something to go after rather than something to avoid.  That change of sentiment frees you up to take chances, to do the things you always wanted to do, to pursue the things that you love and that have real meaning.

A few years ago I was editing images of broccoli to goon a supermarket website. That was never what I wanted to do. The “but” in me had stopped me from leaving because it was a stable job for a respected retailer. Now I’m a boudoir photographer and I get to be my own “and” as well as helping other people express their “and”.

And what’s stopping you?