I Almost Quit

When you see people post on social media… 99 times out 100 you will see their successes and very little, if any, of their failures. Personally, I feel that is one of the biggest downsides of the social media space.

The reason I bring this up is because kids (and adults even) get on Instagram, or Facebook, or whatever their preference may be and see post after post about this guy doing this or that girl doing this. Everyone is posting about their travels, how great their relationships are, or their latest successful endeavor.

That’s all great, but the problem is… these kids see this and they start comparing themselves to that, thats the benchmark. They see all this success and wonder what is wrong with them - “Why haven’t I succeeded?” they begin to wonder. Or “Why do my relationships keep failing? What is the matter with me” From there it’s a slippery slope into feeling inadequate or worse, full blown depression.

Sure, it’s just the internet. Kids need to toughen up and realize that life is tough… blah blah blah. To an extent you’re right. However, my point is… you NEVER seem to see the struggle that led up to the “success” post.

You rarely see the failed relationship posts. Or the 12 dollar hostel (cheap shared hotels) your favorite “world traveler” stayed in the night before she made that post.

What I’m trying to say is… for every successful person you see out there (internet or elsewhere) there was a lot of failing. I mean a LOT.

To be honest… if you want to succeed at something, plan to fail for a long time before it happens. Unless of course maybe you come from some rich family and have some cushion to fall back on.

Regardless, failing is an integral part of success. You have to learn how to fail if you plan to succeed. Each failure you have will teach you a lesson that you will take with on your path to success.

I say all this because I have been through it. I have failed a LOT. I desperately wanted to be out of the rat race. The same grind every single day. Day in and day out. I was doing something I didn’t love and I wasn’t happy.

Instead of just accepting my fate and sticking with it in the name of safety and security, I decided to do something about it. I found something I was truly passionate about and I RAN WITH IT. I decided to go in 100% and trust the process.

From there it was a windy and bumpy road. However, I pushed through it. I slept on floors of hotel rooms, I had many failed relationships, I had times where I could barely afford to keep my lights on and ate ramen noodles in between editing sessions.

I often missed the times where I had a steady flow of wedding shoots and senior portrait customers coming in.

Finally on location I started to think to myself “man, you should be out looking for a real job. This isn’t cutting it.”

My self doubt was creeping in hard. The photo I was trying to get was turning out to be a huge headache, the ‘then’ shot I was looking to recreate was taken higher up that I was able to get.

It was cold, windy, and to be honest I was just plain down and miserable. I was ready to give up.

On the way back to my van, I stopped in at a coffee shop right off of Michigan Avenue. I needed to regroup and warm my hands. Turns out, that little coffee shop was about to change my life.

While sipping my coffee and reviewing the shots I had so far… I let out a disappointed sigh. A man sitting across from me looked up and asked if everything was alright.

I was sort of caught off guard, I didn’t even realize I had made an audible noise, I was that frustrated. I looked up and saw a well dressed businessman, briefcase and all.

Normally I keep to myself… most artists tend to be on the introverted side, but this guy asked me a question and I didn’t want to be rude.

I explained how I was having a hard time getting a photograph for a project I was working on. He smiled warmly and pulled up a chair, turns out he was a photography hobbyist himself.

Over a cup of coffee, we got to talking and I learned he was a lawyer with some firm just up the street and he likes to shoot photos of the city on his free time.

After explaining my ‘then & now’ art process and what exactly I was looking to achieve, he became rather intrigued. He asked about the problem I was having with the recreation. The shot was taken from high up and in order to recreate it, I was going to need to not only get into a building but into a particular office I explained.

Well guess what? Turns out this guy not only knew someone in that building but had a colleague who worked on the floor I needed to get to! I couldn’t believe it. What luck?!

This fellow took an extra couple of hours out of his busy day to bring me to the office building and introduce me to the people on that floor. They were all so nice and I explained to them what I was trying to do.

They were more than happy to get me to where I needed to be. Here I was in a warm office building (fancy as can be at that) and able to get the EXACT shot I needed. Not only that, but everyone in the office just LOVED what I was doing. Naturally, I left a few of my business cards.

I got the shot I needed and said my goodbyes and told them how grateful I was. I packed up my van and began my journey back to Wisconsin. Reflecting on the trip I thought about how I was literally about 10 minutes and one failed photograph away from calling it quits on the whole company.

That complete stranger very well may have changed the trajectory of my entire life.

Moral of the story is, don’t be afraid to talk to strangers! You never know what they’ll teach or be able to do for you!

Keep your head down, never give up, you never know what will be around that next corner.

Thanks for reading,

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