Tasha invited me to come by Creative Nachos for a bit of a guest posting, hoping that I would introduce myself to all of you, and she asked me to do it by way of my passions.

Now, if she’d asked me to do this a year ago, I would have been at an absolute loss at what to share. Likely, I would have told you that I was passionate about my husband and kids, as well as my spirituality. It wasn’t until I began to expand on my exploration of self that I began to realize that I used those “things” more to escape from, than getting in touch with myself.

Don’t get me wrong… I love my family. They are a very BIG part of my world, but I realized that they are separate from and beyond ME. They don’t define me as a person/spirit/creative being.

And my spirituality defines the ways that I choose to connect with the Universe and All That IS, but it didn’t/doesn’t define me, either. At least, not how I was going about it.

My PASSIONS, the things I love to do and focus on (I believe) do. These are the things that feed my soul, get me in touch with inner being.

Only a year ago, I had no idea what those things were. Oh, for certain, they were things that I had been doing since a child, but, even then, I did not realize that they were what I was innately good at. And I’d lost touch with them… Labeling them as “frivolous”. I had focused on others and beyond myself for so long, I had come to believe that the things that stoked the fire in my belly and in my head, were insignificant and naught but a waste of energy. I had lost track of ME!

My most recent explorations – those things that kept my mind and being occupied and busy in the quiet hours while my husband was deployed to Afghanistan – have paid off, though. What stirs my soul? Tasha asks. CREATING and CAPTURING!

Ever since I was a child, I have loved to write. I love to express myself – my thoughts, my hopes, fears, and dreams – through words. I love giving life to a character, making her seem so real upon the page that one half expects to run into her at some point or another at the local shopping center.

I’ve done this. I’ve brought characters to life so vividly for myself and others, that one finds oneself overcome by real emotion just visualizing her going through a tumultuous event in her life. I’ve also experienced this very same thing “watching” as one weaves the tale of her character on the page. I love stories! Fiction, non-fiction, memoir. I love reading them. I love writing them, and I love experiencing them!

Photography! This is another passion of mine. As a kid, I loved fiddling with the little Kodak camera my parents gave me. Always doing what my heart told me to try, despite others telling me, “it’ll never come out”. Some of my best shots were those that people doubted my ability to pull it off.

My dad was a shutterbug too. I’d watch him with his 35mm, and secretly dream of the day when I, too, would able to possess one of my own.

Over the years, I’ve taken pictures with film, Polaroids, and digital pictures with inexpensive digital cameras. You know, the “pre-requisite” photos every parent “has” to take as their children grow up, but when my mom passed away back in 2006, my dad shared the insurance money he’d received with me. One of the things I purchased was a Nikon D40, knowing that she would have wanted me to have it, but hadn’t been able to afford it for myself. It was then that I embarked on my “shooting spree”. It’s only been recently, though, that I’ve really begun to focus on becoming a better photographer, as well as learning the more creative aspects of post production….

These are the things I’m focusing on and working to expand and grow within. These are the things that feed my soul, and that I dream of – someday – becoming my way of making a passionate living with.