You've got one chance
Live your best life, said Michael Pilarczyk. And that's pretty much where it started. I've been taking pictures for over 20 years, and like many others, I started as a hobby. For years I took the most beautiful pictures for people, worked my butt off at schools (school photos), rescheduled that family shoot for the third time because it was raining again, and bent over backwards to make my clients happy. And then I was super happy when I had earned enough money to buy a new lens. To be honest, photography was my paid hobby for years.
I was in a room with 700 people during the event 'Maximum Potential' by Michael Pilarczyk. I had read one of his books and had been following him online for a while. I found him annoying, but the content of his words touched me time and time again. So, curious as I am, I bought a ticket for his 3-day seminar and went there, all by myself (because then I can sail completely on my own compass). He turned out to be a kind of Tony Robbins from the Netherlands. Sometimes very harsh and direct in his opinion (but you can only agree with it), and sometimes he makes you think by looking at things from a surprising angle.
What does your best life look like?
The simple question: 'What does your best life look like?' I couldn't even answer on the first day. Simply because I had never thought about it. What your life could look like if you took the helm? I really had no idea. Where do I want to steer if I could decide? Eeeeehhhh…….
The light went on. Why am I actually in service of everyone? Do they ask that of me, or does it give me a feeling of indispensability by taking on this role (ouch, for many women the latter applies)? Isn't it selfish to chart your own course? What will others think if I choose for myself? In the build-up of the seminar I slowly got answers to these questions and the picture of my ideal life became increasingly clear. You have one life; then you better make sure that it is the life of your dreams, right?
How? One of the questions that led me to the answer was this: What are your core values? Love, creativity, loyalty, self-confidence, financial independence, humor, freedom were high on my list. I slowly started to feel who I wanted to be, or who I actually always was - but what I did not pay attention to.
And that's the point: what you give attention to grows. Since that first time Maximum Potential, I've been happier in everything. Because since then I know what I want to live for. That wasn't a 3-day process, but that process is still ongoing. And the best part is: that's not selfish at all. On the contrary: I have much more conscious attention for my environment, because I choose to give attention to it. My best life: it's already there, and it can only get better.
In a boudoir shoot, mother daughter shoot or during a business portrait session these kinds of life questions often come up. I like to peel off the shell of the madness of the day and discover who is really standing in front of my lens. That is the reason that people often see a photoshoot as a new start, or as the end of a period. You go home with new insights about yourself. It makes me more than happy with my work, because helping other people: that is what almost everyone wants.
