I get a couple of emails a month mostly from people sharing their story. Usually it is about being miserable in their job. This week, however, I got an email from a famous photographer (I guess) from somewhere in the world (I think Germany). I had used one of his pictures (which was beautiful) in one of my posts. He emailed me to let me know and asked me to remove it or pay for it’s use.
What I do is usually type the post and then look for a picture on the internet that depicts whatever I am trying to convey.
So now… I have to question myself…
Why do I feel I need to add a picture to my posts?
One of my favorite blogs has NO pictures, at all, and his posts are rather lengthy little epistles, but I read every word.
So, why do I feel I need a picture in my posts? I think that it is the instructional designer in me that knows that folks learn in different ways and that pictures speak messages that words can not.
I also know that everybody will not have the patience to read my long posts, but I do enjoy writing them… and it’s great FREE therapy.
About Playing It Safe
Yesterday after I went to exercise class I was going to jump in the car and head on into my day which includes lists and stuff to do. As I was walking to my car I realized how very STUPID that was. There was NOTHING on my list that could not wait.
I did not have to catch a plane.
I did not have to pick up a child.
I did not have an appointment to be anywhere at any particular time
…so WHAT was I rushing about for?
Instead of jumping in the car I sat on the bench in front of a labyrinth.
It had been a while since I walked a labyrinth and I knew at that moment I was not going to meditatively walk it today either, but I did want to sit on the bench and look at it, so, I just sat there.
I’m at an age now where I do not care what others may think of what I am doing, of what I am wearing or what I am saying. It is liberating.
This exercise class that I go to is very popular, so much so, that the instructor can increase the price, change the times, change the location and folks will continue to follow him around for the exercise EXPERIENCE. I’ve been going for several years, so, I knew many of these ‘exercise class folks’ would remember me from the exercise class that had finished just 3 minutes ago, and they would wonder what I was doing just SITTING on a bench staring into nothingness.
Again, I did not care.
As I sat there I thought about the photographer guy and his award winning picture that I had used (and subsequently removed at his request).
I thought why don’t I just use my own pictures on my blog posts? I came up with lots of reasons, but mostly that:
- I haven’t REALLY figured out how to use the digital camera I purchased to take pictures of my crafts so I could sell them on Etsy (there are NO pictures or products for sale on my Etsy page for this very reason).
- Next question: Why don’t I know how to use the camera? Because I haven’t read the instruction book.
- Next question: Would I have to carry the camera with me everywhere I go? Probably, but I can’t put the camera in my purse. Why? I refused to buy the $15 case which was a SEPARATE purchase. That was just on sheer “GOOD GRIEF WHY ISN’T THERE A CASE IN THE BOX WITH THE CAMERA?”
But…I digress….
FINALLY…ABOUT PLAYING IT SAFE
While I was sitting on the bench I looked up at the trees ( I love trees).
There was a squirrel climbing up the tree—WAY up the tree.
He kept stopping for long periods of time. I was fascinated by this.
What was he doing?
Wasn’t he afraid of falling? Was he?
Would he go back down the tree or keep going up?
Well, finally he went to the tip-top of one tree and THEN onto the tiniest branch so that he could JUMP to the other tree.
He met-up with another squirrel and then went on pass him or her (who knows) to ENJOY the ADVENTURE of climbing up and down the trees and JUMPING from branch to branch and tree to tree.
These were VERY tall trees.
It was fascinating.
Suppose We Lived Our Lives Like That Little Squirrel…
Maybe you are afraid to go further than you’ve ever gone before.
Maybe you hesitate as you get out of your comfort zone, or the ground for the squirrel, but you venture on.
Once you get your balance in the new place, you then venture on.
You go up to the top (reach your goal) BUT even then you don’t STOP the adventure you venture OUT on the slimmest of limbs (the unknown – new heights) and you FIND another tree, another adventure, another passion, another friend, another love, another life – because you AREN’T afraid to leave the familiar ground that you are used to…time and time again…you venture on.
You Let Go of What Is to Let Come What Could Be
I just watched that little squirrel and thought about writing this post.
Then I thought I NEEDED a picture.
I walked to my car, got my phone and used that camera to take a picture of the squirrel.
Of course he/she was long gone (on another adventure — remember) nowhere to be found.
I took the picture of the trees he/she was climbing.
WE CAN BE LIKE THAT LITTLE SQUIRREL
Sometimes you have to go out on a limb…isn’t that where the fruit is?
(That’s a Will Rogers’ quote by the way). I wonder if I will be able to quote others on my blog or if that will be off-limits as well??? I’m sure I’ll be thinking about intellectual property matters for a while. I guess my thought has been that there is really only one “intelligence” from which all things come, so how could someone claim true ownership when it just came through them, but it’s not really theirs, it belongs to the universe. Well, okay, I guess they did co-create it, so they have some ownership to it. Certainly from a commercial and legal standpoint I get it. Everyone needs to make a living!