Taking it to the Limit

The title of this post might sound extreme, but it's really about knowing your limits and when to slow down.

Above is one of my all time favorite summer pictures.  It always feels summer-y to me, even if I'm looking at it in the dead of winter.

Summer has always been a time for me to relax.  Maybe it's because I really got into the whole summer break from school as a child, or maybe because it feels right to just let life get into a a more relaxed rhythm during the warm months.  Whatever it is, summer has always been a slower time for me.

Right now my summer is packed.  I'm used to taking it easy, but I've got several things on the horizon that are kicking me into an unexpected summer overdrive.  To tell the truth, I don't mind.  But I am glad when I take the time to step back from my hectic schedule to just work at my normal leisurely summer pace.

I know by now that I can't go flat out all the time.  I don't want to anymore. The ease of summer used to be lost on me when I was younger.  It's nice to step back and let the longer days become more time spent laughing with loved ones and less time working.  It used to be when I took a break, I was exhausted.  I made sure I earned any breaks I took.  A friend once said to me "You do two days worth of work in one day and then take the next day off."  Maybe I did then, but it was so draining.  By learning my limits, I realized that taking a slower approach and more breaks meant that I could work longer.  Not a novel concept, I know, but a hard lesson to learn.

I'm still working; stories have been written and submitted, paint still finds its way to the canvas via my hand and photographs still get taken.  But summer has its own pace and plans - it always does.

Even though the next month or so is uncharacteristically jam packed for me, I'm still taking my time.  I'm having surgery on my right eye, so I'll be forced to slow down to recover.  There may not be as many new pictures over the summer, but I feel like that's alright.  There's a library of unexplored old photographs to talk about still, and all the bits and pieces of projects that are already in progress to share.  Summer is going to be slow and easy around here, because we all deserve a break.