It’s funny, I feel like we’ve been in quarantine so long that I almost forget what real life is like.
Life turned upside down, yeah? Here in Utah, it isn’t too bad, but I can only imagine it’ll get worse. I don’t want to think about it, so I won’t talk about it (and y’all definitely don’t want to read it either), so I’ll use this time to reminisce on some old times with photoshoots of the past.
This particular one took place in August – on the 4th, to be exact. Hannah and I went down to Spanish Fork to see if we could find some windmills, and we definitely found them! It was a good time – the weather was warm and we were just in time for golden hour. We snapped so many photos I honestly lost track of how many I was taking. I also took some on my film camera, but unfortunately, those photos got lost. RIP film photos, gone but not forgotten…
I don’t know why I never wrote about these photos – it’s funny how time works like that. We can get so caught up in the day-to-day life that we don’t slow ourselves and we end up running ourselves into the ground until we’re dog-tired. Also, why is it dog-tired and not hippopotamus-tired?! Some people…
Anyways, all of this sitting around doing nothing has me thinking about how packed life usually is and how we don’t ever slow down to literally just stop and take a look at the world around us. I’ve been going on walks frequently, usually daily if I can manage it and the weather isn’t too bad. It’s been nice to get out and see the world around me.
I’m so used to the usual day-to-day routine of getting up, working out, eating breakfast, packing lunch, going to work all day, coming back, making food, watching hockey, and then maybe doing some shooting or editing, if I have the time. But, I don’t usually pick up blogging. I feel like I always know I can do it later, but I like to have a subject or a topic to write about. I think I use it as an excuse to not write at all. I feel like sometimes it needs to be this long, extravagant blog with a purpose to it, morals to be learned and lessons to be made.
SPOILER: this blog is that exact topic.
But that’s not at all what it’s about. It’s more about writing down whatever I’m feeling in the moment. For goodness sake, that’s what this blog is! I’ve been rambling on far too long, but it’s good to get these thoughts out because so many people are feeling these exact feelings right now; it’s hard not to. When your day-to-day life is upended like this, it’s all but natural to feel helpless.
Some of us will fall into a routine at home to try and keep us busy; others will succumb to the nature of it all and barely do anything with their lives. I think what matters is that you try to live as normally as possible, and as regular to your normal life as you can. I’m trying to workout every morning I can, trying to stay in shape without going to the gym. I’m trying to call three or four friends a week and catch up to see how things are going. It’s all I can do right now! I’m trying to find new cooking recipes on Pinterest and boy, do I have some good ones!
I’m trying to live as if this wasn’t happening.
And guess what? Life will return to normal. So, I want to keep my habits up. I want to make sure I’m still living the way I used to, and the way that I want to. I’m trying to replace the activities I used to do with similar activities. Am I watching more TV? Not really – just watching TV shows instead of sports…I miss hockey so much, it’s painful! Am I taking more pictures? Yeah, but of food, not people!
Replacing what I used to do with something else has made me want to do more things that I wish I would do much more often.
Going for walks.
Film photography.
Sitting on my back porch and watching the sun go down.
Cooking new recipes and doing food photography.
Time is what you make of it. What are you doing with your time? I encourage you to try one new thing – and it doesn’t even have to be new. Just replace something you used to do with something similar.
You’ll probably love it.
Sorry for the rambling blog and the moral of the story. But I think we all need some routine in our lives. So, try to get some routine!
Until next time,
~ Justin
Parting shot:
Next blog: Probably more random thoughts. I’ll be writing some food blogs for sure, so stay tuned for those! They just take a while to write…
Justin Fague 