March was…..an incredible month. For so many reasons. It was incredibly and remarkably difficult to give up sugar, you guys. I’m not going to lie, it freaking sucked! I like sweets. A lot, actually. And in the interest of honesty and full disclosure, I didn’t make it the entire month. But not for the reasons you might think.

I stopped giving up sugar on Sunday, March 24th, as I headed to Denver on my way to a photography workshop. I knew part of the take-away from it would be the experience itself and I didn’t want to go into it with this giant “NO!” staring me in the face if I was presented with any sort of candy or dessert. I didn’t want to not experience everything about this workshop. So I decided my Month Without could fall by the wayside for three days.

But then something happened. In the course of those three days I learned so much about myself, and about other people. I learned about love and hope and joy and gratitude and yes, even about God and faith. But most of all, at a workshop about making images that matter, I learned about living a life that matters. And as silly as it might sound to you, a life that matters to me, is one in which I EXPERIENCE all the good that there is to experience. Which means not torturing myself by giving up things that I really do love – and that really aren’t that damaging to me (provided I engage in them in moderation!)

At this workshop (which will have it’s own blog post, as soon as I get my film back from the lab), I learned about Junk Food – not the kind that adds jiggles to your midsection and thighs, but about the kind that makes your soul weary – and increases the weight of self-doubt. So I added sugar back in, but still decided to keep out the junk food.

I just switched it’s origin.

Which brings me to April.

In keeping with the theme of March, I’m going to continue to get rid of the Junk Food in my life. The things that I really don’t need. The negativity. The comparison. People who don’t lift me up or bring me joy. I’m going to let it fall away. Shift out of focus. Become the bokeh in my life.

And I’m going to spend a lot more time ingesting the good stuff.

I hope that maybe you decide to do the same.

(And if you want to give up real junk food, that’s okay too.

 

A huge ginormous and heart felt thank you to Jenn and Dave for the perfect and awesome and amazing image of me at the top of this post. You can check out their recap of our weekend together here.