Pausing To Simply Be

It is so difficult, especially during the chaos surrounding the holidays,

to find time to be still—to just be.

During one of the most difficult years of my life, filled with change and loss and grief, I have turned to nature photography as a means of constructively coping with the chaos that often surrounds me. When the need to be present and in the moment becomes so strong that I can’t resist it, I take my camera and walk, or sometimes I simply stand or sit, waiting to capture the beauty of the very moment that only I am experiencing in this place and space and time.

The short days of winter—the darkness, the grays, the shadows—can often leave me depressed and lethargic. Yet if I grab my camera, bundle up, and head out into the cold, I find myself re-energized as I use my lens to search for the beauty out there in the darkness, and the subtle color differences in the shades of gray that cast shadow and light and provide an ever-changing landscape to photograph. The absolute quiet of the falling snow, the crunch of the ice beneath my feet, the chatter of the birds and squirrels gathering at the feeder, the lapping of icy waves on the shore—all fill me with appreciation for this season of introspection.

Pausing to simply be allows me to shift my perspective.

No matter what deadlines and responsibilities loom, if I take time to see and feel the beauty of the world that surrounds me, I can return to my to-do list and approach it with a renewed understanding of what truly matters.