Risk It.

All I want are for things to be simple.

No clutter. No drama. No chaos. Just SIMPLE.

I am counting down the (31) days until graduation and I'm excited about this one. I am trying to put aside the stress and take in as much as I can, because I know with me constantly living in the past, it will only be a matter of time before I wish that I was back at Daytona State College and in Florida. I anticipate the home sickness and am a little nervous for it. I have never lived more than an hour away from my parents and never been more than a few months without seeing them. I have a feeling that this will be difficult, but I welcome it with open arms, as this is something that I need to do. I have made the perfect transition, from high school graduation, to moving an hour away and now to moving out-of-state. As long as I am this close, I will continue to depend on their help (that I am extremely thankful for) and I need to learn to stand on my own two feet. It is time. I believe that I have come a long way from where I started, but I have a ways to go. I look forward to the challenge.

So a friend told me today that before she moved to New York she had cold feet for a year. Then she realized she needed to just do it and she got rid of most of her belongings, packed the car and moved there. I won't lie, I am nervous as hell. It's not that I don't think I can make it, it's just...well, I don't know what it is, really. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. But most of all, I think it's fear of success. For so long I've been okay with being mediocre and safe. It's time that I take a risk. Time to work to live and not live to work.

I cannot wait to explore the City with my camera. The City That Never Sleeps is so unique, unlike any other in the world. And yet completely the same. I'm excited for having an endless list of to-do's, but not the boring, mundane, I'm-only-doing-this-because-I-have-to ones. I'm excited to organize all my images, catalog them and eventually start a website. I'm excited to learn what type of photography I enjoy most and to hone in on the skills for that particular field. Photography is absolutely amazing. It is the same media with the ability to do things hundred of different ways.

So I'm nervous. Meh. I'll leave you with some quotes that I have found that have encouraged me. Hope they do the same for you.

"If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything." -Win Borden

"A ship is safe in harbour. But that's not what ships are for." -William Shedd

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin

Okay, this one just struck me so super hard...
"Pitful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won't suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when the person looks back-she will hear her heart." -Paolo Coelho