Briana Santiago is an Associate Photographer for Christopher Maddox Photography. Check back weekly to keep up with Briana's weekly 'Project 52' posts.
Happy New Year everyone! I can hardly believe that 2012 is
here! We see New Year all around us, don’t we? Ads on TV, radio, newspaper etc.
Everything geared towards New Year resolutions. “A new year, a new you!” seems
to be the general gist of most of them.
The Biggest Loser is one of our favorite shows in this
house. And the new season just kicked off. Its so inspiring to watch people
completely transform every aspect of their lives to make their goals come to
life. I think their slogan is the best that I have heard, and the one that I
want to incorporate into my life at this time. “No excuses!”
So in the midst of the ‘No excuses!’ mindset we decided to
hike a mountain. It’s a mountain that I have always wanted to climb but never
have. There has always been an excuse.
Excuses:
#1 – No trail - There is absolutely no trail. Its not a
mountain made for casual hiking. Its all rocks straight to the top.
#2 – Snakes – I have been told that snakes like to nest and
hibernate on mountains such as this one. I don’t really care to walk into their
environment. I’m picturing Indian Jones! Pit of snakes and me!
#3 – Time – In the fight against the sun and making time to
walk, it just never seemed to add up. I would never leave enough sunlight time
to make it up and down before the sunset.
#4 – Too hard – Have you ever climbed a mountain that’s
entirely rocks? Its like a stair master for 30 minutes straight. There is a
reason why I avoid that machine in the gym.
And on and on. Well guess what? Finally I did it. I climbed
that mountain. Even not feeling that well. NO excuses! I did it anyways. I made
it up about 1/3 of the way. Then realized I needed to sit down and ‘take in the
view’ while my brothers and sister finished the climb to the top.
It was at that little perch on that mountain that my ‘Depth
of Field’ post came to me! Little did I know that such a moment would dawn on
me right there. So I didn’t have my lovely Canon 7D with me at the time. These
pictures are out of my little ol’ point-n-shoot!
I was busy looking at the gorgeous slate rock that we had
been climbing up. There were tiny algae growing in it.’s crevices. The colors
were amazing. The shapes the rock naturally made were fascinating to me. The sun was setting at the time, so there was
also a beautiful glow cast upon them as well. The slate rock basically molts
right off of itself. (Which made the idea of climbing up it so reassuring!)
Just like a little kid I started breaking the rock away from itself – so
intrigued to see the next layer underneath. My depth of field was that rock and
that rock alone!
After throwing a nice piece of slate down the side of the
mountain, and watching it crumble into a thousand pieces below me, I looked up.
I realized I hadn’t noticed the gorgeous sunset that was happening right before
my eyes at all! And I had a front row seat to an incredible horizon! Talk about
a change of depth perception. I was so fixated on that rock that I was missing
a fantastic show of light!
Doesn’t this happen in life sometimes? At times our depth perception
can be fixated on the little things going on that we fail to realize that the
bigger picture is an amazing production. We worry about the house being
decorated, the car being fixed, the dinner being prepared, the yard work or the
bills getting paid on time. We get lost in the petty details of life that we
forget the bigger blessings. Sure the house may not be decorated but there is a
roof over our head at night. The dinner may not be a gourmet feast but there is
food to be placed on the table and all our loved ones are around it!
In the same respect our perception can get lost in the ‘big
picture’ and forget to notice the small details of life that make it so
uniquely special. We can get so lost in accomplishing our massive ‘lifetime
goals’ – and ourselves up when we haven’t gotten there yet – that we fail to
recognize all the accomplishments we have made already. For instance my husband
and I would love to own a home someday soon but have little down payment saved
at this point. But we also have zero credit cards and own our car because of
our diligence to paying those things off! Those are big deals!
My goal this year is to gain a little balance of both. I
want to appreciate all the small blessings of my life. I want to get excited
about the bigger goals ahead on the horizon. I want the let the small things
fill my present with life and the big things give me the drive to
tomorrow. It’s a balance I hope to
create this year of 2012. No excuses!
Always,
Briana
PS - I am sorry to those of you who were looking for a post
last week. This time of the year is nuts in this house. We kick off the
festivities with Christmas. My daughter then turned 2 on the 28th (a
week ago today), my husbands birthday on the 1st, my mother-in-laws
on the 3rd and my dad ties it up on the 7th! Madness!
Swallow your own medicine Briana! No excuses right!? From
this point forward I WONT miss a post! I promise!
