Lately I have been thinking about what this means. We all have these things, these moments that we plan for. A holiday, a wedding, a birthday, Christmas!, a date. These days or moments that we plan for, look forward to and have expectations for. But are we setting ourselves up for disappointment by having all these expectations? Because let's face it, we can never control the outcome of any situation.
What if we just let go, surrender and welcome the moment for what it is and how it unfolds in its own mysterious way, without jumping into the future. Isn't the excitement in not knowing exactly what will happen?
Also, if we're always planning and living for the future, perhaps we are missing out on the magic that is happening right under our noses. And I'm not talking about grand moments but maybe the simple things, like the taste or even smell of the first cup of coffee in the morning, or your favourite song playing on the radio or randomly on Spotify. The satisfying crunch of fallen leaves under your feet or the fluid formation of a flock of birds as they swarm through the sky.
Last week I went to take take some photos in the woods with the very talented and gorgeous Alice Surridge. I'm someone who always manages to skilfully avoid a group photo, or will hide in the back if I can get away with it. Posing feels awkward and I rarely like looking at the outcome of whatever's been captured, so this was really stepping outside of my comfort zone.
It was freezing cold and there was also a chance of rain, so my vision of me dancing barefoot in the woods in a floaty outfit was not seeming all that appealing on top of my awkwardness in front of a camera. However, I did trust Alice, and I thought, it doesn't matter what type of weather we have or when we do this, I'm always going to feel awkward, so why not just surrender to the moment, go with the flow and see what happens.
Taking my shoes and socks off and stepping onto the carpet of fallen leaves, I was surprised that the ground didn't feel all that cold at all, and once the music began to play and I began to move and drop into my body that actually it wasn't so bad. Yes I was still slightly nervous and awkward but I was curious to notice that this moment felt very different to how I had expected it to feel.
The icing on the cake was seeing the photos that evening and actually loving the outcome. Yes there were of course a few that I cringed at, but I was OK with that. I focused on the ones that I loved and am sharing a few here.
You can check out more of Alice's work here https://www.alicesurridge.com