We all know how that goes... "When one door closes, God opens a window!" The problem is that usually the door is slammed and bolted and we've spent a good deal of our time and energy kicking it, yelling at it, crying and trying to pry it back open again before we can even THINK to look for another way! Is that your experience too?
It can be quite disheartening. But sometimes.... on those wonderful, blessed, lucky, magical occasions, a window cracks open on the same day, giving you a faint whiff of hope and a subtle breeze. It's easy to miss if we aren't looking!
So let me tell you a little story about the doors that have been closing and opening in my life. Last year, at this very time, one of my daughters was going through a rough patch (to put it mildly). In order to give her 100 percent of my attention, I needed to close down my studio and focus on her for a while to get her back on track. I was fortunate because I had a great consulting job that was bringing in the money that I needed and I had some classes and seminars lined up for the spring into summer to keep me on my career path.
This fall, just one year later my daughter is not only doing better and my oldest child is happily settled in to her new life but I was able to salvage our family and regain all that I had lost and more! ( I know, this sounds like an info-mercial - rah rah) Let me tell you what's going on!
I have a new studio! Since I had an onslaught of HS Seniors come to me for pictures this year, and I found that my dining room wasn't a great place to photograph (that darn chandelier!), my husband and daughter lovingly turned our garage into a portrait studio and a great artist's hang out! It's convenient, cute and quiet! I have a window overlooking the garden and even greater plans for it's future. And best of all, I don't have to pay rent on it!
Although I'm still working as a consultant, the company chose to cut my hours leaving me in a bit of a tailspin... however that very day... let me say that again... THAT VERY DAY, I received an email from a recruiter at Udemy.com, an online instruction company asking me to become a paid photography instructor. I almost threw the email out thinking it junk until I caught a glimpse of my name and the word photography and decided it was worth checking out. Even then I did some research on the internet to make sure I wasn't being scammed!
I contacted the recruiter to get more details. He said that they had heard of me from one of their resource collectors (?) and were very impressed with my work and wanted me to teach courses on photography. Armed for a new challenge, I have diligently been working on an e-training curve for the past month and am happy to say have "climbed the mountain!" They reviewed my course, loved it and gave me the go ahead to publish for pay! My first two courses were published this morning with more to follow! I'm having SO MUCH FUN!! click here to see The Wonderful World of Digital Photography or click here to see "How to Take Better Photographs: for moms, travelers and anyone else with a camera". I will put links on my blog so that you can recommend them to others!
Finally, when I started this blog this summer, I did it as a resource for my former students to come and continue to grow in all things art and soul. I also did it for myself, to express things that were on my heart. It was reassuring to me that I had indeed grown in wisdom as in age. Including the art of others in my blog forces me to continue to grow and develop my artistic eye and to stay fresh. My readership has continued to climb and startling enough, it has more than doubled in the past week!!! So to you readers, I thank you and I hope that you are getting what you are looking for when you log into my site.
My lesson in this is... never lose heart. Keep plugging away at what you are doing. Doors close yes, but windows open too and sometimes they hold greater views and promise than the doors that have closed! Be strong and encourage your soul with this... new opportunities present themselves at every turn. That's the great thing about life!
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