Sometimes the trade-off seems unbalanced until you look back and compare. Several years ago I gave up the life of a photographer in Hollywood capturing aspiring actors, actresses, models and all around entertainers and came back home. I realized several things that were affecting my life and for some odd reason they all happened to culminate at the same time.
I traded the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles with it’s constant rush hour traffic and sense of urgency that I wasn’t even aware of at the time but felt something wasn’t right. My mind and body was on auto pilot but I wasn’t flying the plane. That is a terrible way to navigate in retrospect.
I traded the lifestyle one can only dream of for something more down to earth, and boy what a trade that was! You can’t get anymore earthy than a lush green forest full of majestic trees that seem to reach the sky and wild animals going about their daily lives. Pine trees as far as the eye can see along with beautiful sawgrass that adorns the grassy forest floor. It’s also a great hiding place for the little critters.
I don’t think you can ask for a better natural environment then this beautiful setting that offers so much in terms of wildlife and native Florida vegetation.
I worked as a portrait photographer in Hollywood for years before deciding to pack my bags and head back home. It wasn’t because I missed the greenery, the rain, the sunshine which I did but something else. What I missed was deeper than anyone can expect until they too, experience it for themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my work and lifestyle tremendously until I realized something monumental. The lifestyle is make believe and you can only believe something that’s not true for so long until it becomes unbearable. Many of my clients believed they were going to make it big and become rich and famous someday if they only kept at it or maybe someone high up will discover them, to be fair so did I. Sort of like playing the Florida Lottery every Saturday here at home. You always believe you will be the recipient of a one in a million chance. That day rarely comes and when it does it may just change your life for ever, and not always for the better. But still we hope. Today I see what happened as a blessing to be grateful for. I was fortunate enough to realize that the lifestyle I and many were living can only lead to chaos and mental anguish. How many times can a human being be told to his or her face that they are great and wonderful but never get the gig? At some point people will begin to see fractures in their spirit, their soul and their mental acuity.
My advice to anyone is to enjoy each day as if it were your last day on earth. I know it sounds morbid but as I’m writing this I can’t help but think of recent tragic events. Today marks the 24 year anniversary of 9/11 and just yesterday a good man was shot and killed because of his beliefs and the audacity to voice his opinions out loud. As a foreign born and proud American citizen who fled Cuba this notion of silencing people you don’t agree with hits very close to my heart. America and Americans are better than this, aren’t we?
Today marks 24 years since we were attacked by a few men who thought it was right to kill Americans who were not engaged in war but just going about their business at work as usual. This is the act of cowards, not soldiers men of faith.