Living Fully or Frantically? (Day 30, Beyond Layers)

Kim Klassen, in her Beyond Layers class, asked us this: are we living fully or frantically? She shared with us a few quotes about being busy from a book she is reading, which I loved:

• "We know you're busy. Now shut up about it."
• "Busy? Get in line. That's life."
• "We fill up our lives. That's what humans do. The question is what are you filling it with. Are you out of control busy, or are you full with life? Full is beautiful. Frantic is a buzz kill."

I can relate with all these quotes. I have been getting more and more frustrated with the amount of people around me who have to declare their busy-ness . . .as if it is a badge of honor to be so, so busy. One of my work colleagues consistently remarks to me when he sees that I am using my lunch hour to go for a 4 mile run, "I wish I could do that, but I am far too busy" . . . as if it is a dig. I just smile and move on, but what I want to say is, "no you don't and no you aren't". And I think this is true. We are ALL busy, but it is about priorities. I believe we can make time for the things we want to do. I believe we have a lot more time in our days than we think we do.

As far as living fully . . . well, I'm not sure I've figure that out yet. Do I eliminate the things I don't really want to do? No. That is hard . . . some of those things just feel like responsibilities. I don't think we can go through life doing just what we want to do . . . of course, that is not what Kim was trying to relay; nor what the author of the book she quoted was trying to say. It is more about doing those things just the way they need to be done--with a purpose; with a reason and with a drive to get them done and not whining through it.

 Kim urged us to slow down--in life and in our photography. Slow down enough to be present and to really see; to really think about what we are doing, to really be there in the moment. She challenged us to not snap away just because we can in this digital age (which I love). To think of it as if we were using film--24 shots, 36 shots--that is it.

One thing that helps me to slow down is to use a tripod. I know the importance of a tripod in photography but I often do not want to use one. At times, I am self-conscious about being seen with a camera and tripod and other times I just find it inconvenient and maybe even a little annoying, but it does certainly force me to slow down. The last few times I went out to take shots of water drops and dew, I used my tripod for all the shots whether I needed it or not.