11-27, Your Gift

I've decided to spice things up with my Finding Focus blog.  I find it ironic that I started this photography blog almost a decade ago (I think?!) because I was hoping to talk myself through what it was that I wanted to achieve with my photography business.  It's really been an ebb and flow process for me.  (If you didn't know already, I'm a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy.  I'll oftentimes use nautical references in my everyday conversations.  That's normal....right?!)  Fast forward through a decade of life and changes, and I again find myself searching for some focus.  

I tried to keep it quiet, for awhile, that I had a blow to the head this summer that gave me a concussion.  All of the 'normal' concussion symptoms were present, by my continual problem with my eyesight has remained.  (You can imagine why I wanted to keep that on the down-low since eyesight is a critical component of photography, right?) It's been almost 5 months now since that jar to my head, and I'm still having problems.  

I'm pretty much a Type A personality.  Wikipedia will tell you that "personalities that are more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management and/or aggressive are labeled Type A."  You can imagine my level of frustration that this amount of time has elapsed and I'm not back to where I was before the accident.  Through it all, I have tried to remain positive.  My favorite phrase from one of my friends is that this is simply a detour.  Yes, that it definitely is.  Thankfully my eyesight, from that very day, has not been so greatly affected in pictures but in words.  I have been able to maintain my photography (albeit at a reduced rate so as not to overdo it and adversely affect my recovery) but I have had to give up--hopefully just for now-- my reading obsession.  (Seriously, I used to read a book a week, and I loved every minute of it.) I have tried to find joy in audiobooks (tried being the true word of that sentence).  

So, this gives you the background story for my point of this post.  I heard something on my audiobook today that made me stop and ponder.  I'll give it to you straight that I don't follow the 'who did what' with celebrities, so I really have no clue what this author may or may not have done and how scandalous it may have been. (He made reference in the dialogue, but whatever, that's not the 'moral of the story' here.)  Anyway, here is the quote:

"Your gift is the thing that you do the absolute best with the least amount of effort."

("Jump" by Steve Harvey)

Wow, right? Does this hit home for you?  Are you living your gift or fighting it?  I found this to be an interesting spin on the concept that if you love what you do you'll never have to 'work' a day in your life.  Sit back and think about it.  I know that's exactly what I have been doing since July 3 (can't read, might as well ponder life, right?!), so that's why this really hit a nerve with me.  Am I on my chosen path utilizing my gift(s) or trying to swim upstream?  Are you?  Hmmm...... interesting.

Drop me some comments and let me know.  I'd love to hear from you!