Growth Spurts...

I don't think you can be a consistent grower. Like many things in life, I think my growth comes in fits and spurts. I imagine this is sort of like when you have a child and they seem to be on a routine with eating and sleeping, and then all of a sudden start eating like crazy and not sleeping... just unpredictable.

Since choosing my word -- GROW -- for this year, a lot has happened. I think part of growing is realizing that if you want to grow you have to put effort into the areas in which you think growth is needed and possible. I've certainly been trying to do that recently.

The biggest, latest news is that I start a new job tomorrow. I had been earnestly looking for something new for a little more than a year, but with the economy and all there was so much competition and so few opportunities that it took a while for the right situation to materialize. I'll be doing the same kind of marketing work for a different company, but in the same sort of industry. I don't think this is my final job destination, but it's a good change. It also looks like the opportunity to start teaching journalism and communication courses online will be materializing here pretty soon, which makes me super excited.

What all this means is that my photography business will be on the back burner for awhile. There are changes I need to make there and things to learn, but I can only stretch myself and my time so far and learning a new company and teaching new students will take up a lot of both. I'm still taking photo sessions, but I'm not actively soliciting new clients right now. It's such a saturated market here and I'm not willing to do the down and dirty fighting lots of others seem to engage in to get new faces "in the door."

In other news, we'll probably be moving in a few months since both of our jobs are located quite a bit south and west of where we live. We'll need to rent for a bit longer, but we're hoping to buy in the next couple of years.

The move and the new jobs have also meant I had to give up my garden plot. It's a bummer, but I had to face the reality that planting a plot I would no longer live or work near seemed like a very illogical decision. I'm hoping wherever we move to will have a yard so I can have a raised bed. That would be fun!

I sort of see my life like operating a cable car. If you've ever been on a cable car in San Francisco and watched the driver, you'll see him pull on the brakes and levers that pinch the cable, to slow the car, or release the grip on the cable to allow the car to build momentum and climb the hills, and so on.  Sure, a lot of effort goes into pulling those levers, but man is it a fun ride. (The photo above is me in the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco from Spring 2010).