Wayne Brady on The Chappelle Show.
It's been weeks since I've been able to sit in front of a computer and write a post. Blogging takes a lot more time than you'd think. I spend 1-2 hours per post. A full-figured post takes me well over 2 and sometimes 3 hours to write.
To complicate matters, I've been in Asia for nearly 3 weeks. I have a lot of family and friends there. In fact I have no blood relatives here in the US. I spent 1/2 my life from the time I was born until I was 18 in Taipei, Taiwan. So I travel there about once a year.
This year we took our daughter to Taiwan for the first time. She's now 7+ months and it has been a huge process bringing her back to Taiwan. Actually it's been a huge process just having her around. Life with a baby is different. Hell, let me just say it bluntly. Life with a baby is hard. Lots of you have kids so you understand. Some of you don't so you have no clue how trying the process can be. As an example, I haven't slept since Saturday night. The kid is still on Taiwan time and went to bed at 6AM this morning after torturing us all night.
I'd rather be running an Ironman than suffer sleep deprivation torture.
The wife and I have been living in 4 hour blocks for the past 3 weeks. At 7 months it's sleep-eat-play rinsed and repeated 4-5x a day. Unfortunately we had our hands full with her being sick for the entire trip. Combine that with jet lag and a poor temperament and you have a ticking time bomb on your hands. The only way to protect yourself is to stay outside the blast radius.
Unfortunately she goes nuclear quite often and as the radiation accumulates in my body, I am dying a slow painful death.
At least that's how it feels.
So it's no surprise that I haven't been able to sit quietly in front of a computer to write anything meaningful.
The problem for parents is that there's no permanency to a baby's state of being. They grow at an incredible rate. So as parents, we are constantly adapting. Just when we think we've gotten a routine down, bam! She can now sit, crawl, stand, chew, walk, talk, run, etc. We live at square one right in front of the drawing board. We don't pass Go and we don't collect $200.
It's literally impossible to get ahead of the curve.
So what does this have to do with photography?
Well, if you hate change, chances are that a life with a baby is not for you. And neither is entrepreneurship (being a freelance photographer). If you need a routine, get a desk job. Because is nothing routine in raising a child or being an entrepreneur. The only thing that stays the same is that your life is in constant state of flux.
And combining entrepreneurship with caring for a baby? That's like being a pimp and a ho at the same time. Pimping is hard enough as it is. But can you imaging pimping AND turning tricks at the same time? Now you're so busy you don't even have time to bitch-slap yourself.
And that's what it all boils down too. Running and gunning. Entrepreneurship (and parenthood) is a fast-paced process of constantly adapting to circumstances. Trying to find a semi-permanent sense of balance for as long as you can before the ground falls out from beneath your feet. So, the better you are at striking some sort of delicate balance with the variables of change, the better you will adapt (or simply cope). The reward is constant growth at a blistering pace and the opportunity to experience life like you've never lived before. Entrepreneurship and fatherhood are the two most rewarding journeys I've endured in this life.
The cost? You. You have to surrender yourself and leave everything behind to go down this rabbit hole. Because you aren't coming back. Well, at least not in one piece :)
Part II of the post coming soon!
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