Why I'm saying No to education....| Charlottesville Virginia Wedding Photographer Sarah Houston Photography

Education and pow-wow's are pretty prevalent in the creative industry, it seems like everyday there is a new workshop or new event that comes up. I'm all about education and connecting with fellow like-minded artists....but then it kind of just....changed for me.

I was literally going to go bankrupt trying to go to every.single.one. because I felt if I didn't, i'd miss out-& besides everyone seemed to be going to them, I didn't want to be left behind!  I literally had this crazy thought that if I didn't attend one, that they would become better, smarter...cooler than me. Seriously???? I want to shake myself for even admitting this shameful act! I was so scared of people succeeding more than me that I let it ruin my day...

Stop. Literally take your finger off the submit cart button and back that transaction out of there. If you can't afford it, don't do it. Just because it's the latest & greatest...doesn't mean you need to overdraw your bank account. Start saving for an "education" fund you'll be much happier you did. Stop worrying that your going to be left in the dust, you can still learn amazing things by keeping an eye out for free webinars! Creative Live is an amazing tool as well as some blog posts by some pretty amazing people like Justin & Mary as well as Katelyn James. Just because half your Facebook friends signed up for something...doesn't mean you need to as well.

Striving to be "someone" isn't going to get you anywhere. Think about it....that "someone" you are "trying" to be like....isn't YOU. They are them with their own life. Start living yours and don't worry about what they are doing or what conference they are attending. Don't start signing up for things that you may not even need. Lord knows I've done that, at one time I thought I wanted to make pottery, so I signed up for a pottery class in college....I lasted about a day. It's not easy to make a bowl y'all....but I did it because I thought I wanted to do that, plus the class was really full and a lot of amazing art students were taking it. I am not a bowl maker y'all...so I wasted my time and my money just to make a blob of clay.

My point is (& yes I have a point):

Your not always going to be able to keep up with the Joneses. It sucks. Your gonna miss out on some pretty amazing stuff sometimes, but it's OK. It's ok if you don't get to eat ice cream with Amy & Jordan Demos, It's OK if you don't get to learn from Justin & Mary, it's OK (but a little devastating) if you don't get headshots taken by Erich McVey-whew that's a blow to the ego. ITS OKAY. Your still trying, your still learning and you have TIME to learn....you don't need to do it all at once or take out a second mortgage just to keep up. It's exhausting and you always end up loosing who you are in the end. Trust me my friend-been there done that.

So don't jump the gun, don't feel like you need to attend everything or be apart of every conference that is posted on social media, heck you can even be like me and hide-ad's/unfollow things. I've made it my priority to now only choose ONE educational experience each year-that way I can ENJOY it and really LEARN from it. 

I hope this helps...

xoxo

Sarah