Twenty Ten

Isn’t it kind of a trip how this decade is just about over?

It definitely is for me. Especially when I think about how it started and all the places it took me. I’m feeling a bit reflective these days, okay?

Ten years ago, I felt like I wasn’t really living. Not much of a sense of direction. I felt lonely and isolated. And it really hit me one weekend when an old friend came to visit and I realized I didn’t really like the life I had to show. And I felt like I was getting too old to keep waiting for life to start.

At the start of 2010, I decided to start taking a photo every day as a challenge to myself to live more intentionally. That was an outward decision rooted in a few deeper decisions.

I decided to receive each day as a gift and to make the most of it, saying yes, whatever it looked like that day.

I decided to take my faith seriously, by asking challenging questions and pursuing them with honesty.

I decided to see life as a story, built around a greater purpose, and full of layers and surprising connections.

The photo project was just a creative way to keep myself accountable to those decisions. And by the end of the year, it felt like the most richly lived year I could’ve asked for.

I met people who I formed real deep bonds with. So many of my closest friends now are ones I made that year. I spent months couch surfing, not just for the savings but for the chance to get to know different people. I took a trip to Turkey that unearthed my fascination with this world. I spent the summer in Italy, and later backpacked around Europe. I gained so much confidence I had been missing.

I often think of 2010 as my year of beginning. I started saying YES to life and ten years later I’m still amazed at what happened as a result.