New Year. New Me. Etc. Etc.
Welcome 2024!!! Those numbers hardly seem real. 2023 was beautiful and hard and nice and challenging and all those things mixed together. But professionally, in this space of portrait-taking and wedding-capturing and images that communicate beauty and peace and emotion, I have been absolutely thrilled to dip my toes back into this! Back into the wedding photography world with Chloe & Thaddaeus' summery farm wedding! Back into the portraits world with fantastic clients that I haven't shared yet! It's been a slow but lovely re-entry.
And now here is 2024.
I've always enjoyed planning and especially, year-end reflection with year-beginning planning. I always start out with a fresh new planner. My favorites have changed over the years and last year was my first time using a Clever Fox planner (not an ad, just a fan!). This year, I changed from a weekly planner to an hourly planner, but stayed with the Clever Fox brand and one week of the year down, I gotta say -- I'm lovin' it.
I love the beginning of my planner where I work through eight different areas of life (business & career, health & fitness, finance, personal development, relationship & romance, family & friends, fun & recreation, spiritual). It's a very personal thing - deciding what to focus on in each area. And it can be overwhelming, so I do some quiet thinking time each day or so for a few weeks.
I always have a bit of a pep talk to myself as I reflect on goals accomplished and goals relinquished. As a recovering perfectionist, I can struggle a bit with the idea of failure or accomplishing so little of a goal. Life has a way of throwing curveballs and then goals get dropped for dealing with those challenges.
This year, my focus is to just DO THE THING.
Do it scared.
Do it ... not perfect.
Do it for myself and nobody else.
Do it... even just a little (and that applies to #momlife, too, doing a family activity counts even if it's 45 minutes with young kids - like this chilly escapade to see the ice sculptures in downtown State College!).
Just do it. That's GROWTH.
Strangely enough, the things that scare me usually are all those small-business-owner things that include DIY-ing techie code and email lists and that kinda fun stuff (HAHA NOT FUN TO ME). But I will struggle on through if it means making this business more accessible to you, my friends & readers and clients!
2024 is going to be a good year, full of beauty. I'm looking forward to stepping into new things and re-acquainting myself with old things (like, blogging. Because I like having my own little space on the big ol' internet to share bits of my life and lots of beautiful images with you!
My 2024 booking calendar will be open soon - so SUBSCRIBE to the VIP Email List if you want first dibs on my portrait openings this coming year!
Wedding inquiries are always welcome if you've got new bling on your finger, because you all know that I love LOVE. Shoot me an email at naomiellephoto@gmail.com anytime!
Signing off this on this first full work week of the year,
Naomi Elle
