Starting A Photography Business: Part 6 – Looking After You!

Just the other day it all caught up with me, I’ve been so busy looking at different printers, working on site designs and loading all my work up to the site, running through costings and all the other things that go with setting up a business, when I suddenly realised that things were becoming hard work.  I’d become so caught up in everything business focused that I’d forgotten to take some time for me.

I’d stopped meditating as I just wanted to get on with the site in the mornings and I’d stopped going for country walks for the same reason.  Yet by not taking the time to do these things that I enjoy I had lost the balance in my life.  And having a smart phone it’s so easy to check emails on waking, before even hitting the bathroom & clicking my brain straight into work mode rather than waking slowly.

I have been meditating for a year or so now, so I was quite surprised how easily I found it to slip out of good habits.  Since I realised I have taken the time to meditate and made a pact to start adding things into my week that I enjoy.   Thanks to my reminder I realise that it’s important to have things going on in my life other than the business.

And right now, with all the beautiful colourful leaves on the ground it’s easy to go and take some time off; so this week it’s a different type of article yet equally as important.  When we take care of ourselves and bring balance to our lives it allows us to do everything easier.  Little stresses disappear and there’s less chance of blowing little things out of proportion.

So take a moment and think; what is that you like to do for fun?  Maybe make a list and put some of them into your life every week, the benefits from doing something you enjoy will ripple out into every area of your life.  Maybe fun for you is spending time with your family, or going to the cinema, playing a computer game.  For me it’s a country walk and I love autumn, kicking through the golden leaves, well that is until I find some hidden dog mess! But you know, it’s mostly fun!  Or cooking, I love to cook, chopping up fresh vegetables and seeing all the different colours in the saucepan or I’m really happy jumping in the car and heading off down some road I haven’t been before to see what’s at the end of it.

We are so lucky, as photographers we can do what we love best and whilst doing it be so totally in the moment as we arrange our shot and notice lighting, shadows falling, movement of the subject.  And when we are in the moment we are at our calmest and most connected.  It’s important to find time for us in any walk of life without feeling any guilt for doing so and it’s very important to invest in us.  When we feel balanced and worth investing in others will invest in us too.

Notes

• Notice when you start to spiral into overwhelm

• Make a list of things that you enjoy and put them into your life every day if you can manage it.

• When you are happy everyone around you benefits and things become so much easier.

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Ruth Bayley

Living in the beautiful rural county of Yorkshire it was perhaps natural for Ruth to have an affinity with the countryside and its wildlife. Creativity is Ruth’s driving force finding an outlet in television & radio she worked for many years as producer for BBC & ITV.

However a love of photography and for being surrounded by nature called her to go back to her photography training and bring pleasure and joy to people through her connection with our planet.

Staying in the moment when taking her images allows her to experience the natural magnificence unfolding before her eyes. It is this moment of mediation, of gratitude, that she evocatively conveys through her images.

www.healingwithphotography.co.uk