What is the one thing that you want more than any other? And forget material things. Those fade unapologetically and quickly. They will break down and besides you can’t take them with you when you go.
What is your one thing?
Mine is writing and photography. You might say that I’m cheating because those are two things, but one writes something with words and the other with light. They are born of the same mother. They are creatures of the same father.
I have been doing photography for more than a decade. It started out as a hobby. I was given a good camera and started taking pictures of insects in my backyard. That grew to landscapes, and eventually portraits, and has eventually blossomed into a beautiful obsession with art. I have become an artist, because I choose to work as one and be one.
My passion is women’s physiques. I capture the beautiful curves of a woman, trying diligently to bring something out of the subject that they might not have ever seen before. It’s an extremely empowering process, both for me and the subject. Just look at some of the images, and ask the model about the experience.
That is my thing. My one thing. The thing that gives me life. What gives me vitality. What provides my life and soul with meaning. Photography connects me with people. It makes me a part of a community, and it gives me a chance to make art.
Art is not a consumable. Perhaps at a quick glance it appears as much because everything does under the shadow of a deeply obsessed consumer society. Everything is a product it seems but art is not dead. It is very much alive. It is the one thing that gives me life.
Writing is the other lung with which I breathe. It struck me down like lightning about two years ago. I discovered how much I loved writing as a young man, and how I abandoned it thinking that I was not good, and that I needed a real job, and some realistic goals to be happy. My realistic goals got me a great job. My great job has provided me with a great life, and that life in turn has made it possible for me to refocus on that one thing.
What is your one thing?
Don’t hesitate and politely claim that you don’t have one. I believe you are telling a fib. You’re shying away because to identify your one thing means that your life will never be the same. Once you know what it is you love, there is nothing left to do but to go out and wholeheartedly get it.
I believe that everyone has something that makes them feel alive. Everyone has their one thing, that makes them feel whole, that gives them great value and purposeful meaning.
Identify your one thing because without it, life is a series of half interesting conversations at a bus stop. Life is more than that. Life is passionate and expects you to be a dutiful and attentive lover.
What’s your one thing?
It’s worth all the time in the world to discover what that is and to get excited about it.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Annie Spratt via unsplash.com
