I have dreams and high hopes for this little blog. I really do smile when I think of the possibilities. But I've been stopping myself from freely writing and speaking my mind.

Strange, because my New Year's thoughts were very different.

I wake up randomly in the middle of the night and plan and ramble on about what I want to write here and all these things that I want to do — but fear still stops me. I don't want fear to take hold again. I've chosen to step away from fear, but it does creep in every now and again.

I may be entrapped in comparing myself with others' successes, and yes, I know. Everyone says don't compare, you have your own journey, and it's true. But I'm just saying, some days are still a bit difficult.

Nonetheless, it's a new day. January is almost over. Rather than saying I haven't done much with this space I've created for myself, I'm telling myself that I've continued to hope and plan and I am taking little steps to make this dream a reality. I'm writing today.

I'm saying hello to January 2017 because I'm saying goodbye to the fear of writing. And goodbye to the expectations of what I should and shouldn't write. I'm writing for myself.

So, here I am. After a lovely day at the beach and at home, feeling content and happy about the work that I get to do for couples and their families. There's still a lot on my to do list (3 weddings and an engagement session to shoot in the next week alone, plus all the previous weddings to edit!) - but I allowed myself to rest and get some sun.

It's 10:00pm as I write this, I might do a bit more work, but I might pick a book from the shelf and start reading, finally. I just ordered more books from Book Depository too - just because. It's a dangerous place, I tell you! I'd love to get back into reading.

Anyway, here goes. This feels good.

From our recent trip to New Plymouth. More on this, soon.

x,
patty

Hello, January.