Yesterday was 70 degrees here in Virginia which was a delightful change from the sweater weather we had been experiencing. Henley and I headed outside with sunglasses and sneakers on a fresh air, wagon riding adventure and it was one of my favorite moments this week.

For months, I’ve been brainstorming trying to figure out “whats next” for my business. Last fall was jammed packed with sessions and the off season has been busy with all of the behind the scenes stuff that I’ve wanted to catch up on during those busy months of shooting (client guides, client gifts, etc).

While all of that is well and fine, I just felt like I should be thinking about the “whats next”.  What do I do now?  Its almost as if the moment I begin to feel caught up, my overactive brain thinks that something else should be added to my plate!  (Anyone else relate?)

I sat down for a moment while we were outside.  I watched as Henley was throwing the ball for the dogs and cackling u a storm.  For some odd reason, I began thinking again about the “whats next”.  I figured that eventually something good would come to mind.  So naturally, I turned to the highlight reel of Instagram.

Within a split second, two separate posts immediately popped up that spoke to me. One said “Busy is not a badge of honor” and one said “The work that God does within us while we wait is just as important as important as whatever it is that we are waiting for” (spoken by Ben Patterson and popping up in my feed thank so Jenna Kutcher).

It was that moment that I remembered my word(s) for the year.  I knew early on that “slow down” had been laid on my heart for 2018.  Last year felt like it went by at a pace of 100 mph and my hair was on fire and it was pure chaos in he head and my heart and I did not want a repeat of that this year.

With that in mind, I set annual goals for this year that were more family oriented than business based.  I set monthly goals that would help me get to a place of better balance between my business and my life.  I’ve been making changes to various aspects of my life regarding my health, social media, etc (more on that to come next week).

And thats when it hit me…

Maybe my “whats next” isn’t really a next at all.  Perhaps “whats next” is actually the now and now calls for watching my baby grow and being present and being healthy and well rested and playing with my daughter and hearing her laugh over and over again.

After months of searching, my heart is telling me that this is my “whats next”.

This baby girl is going to grow up faster than I can imagine and I know that its never going to feel like it has slowed down. It already feels like yesterday that we brought her home and now she’s a walking talking toddler with teeth when she smiles and ear piercing squeals of joy all day long.

So maybe, for now, I don’t need to think about whats next.  I just need to live in the now and savor every single moment passing because these are days that I’ll never get back.

It’s easy to feel envy when we look on social media and see something big that someone else is doing.  It can sometimes make us question whether or not we are doing all that we should be.  That is when the “whats next” question starts to tug on me even harder.  But!  Let’s not all forget that her path is her path and we all need to stay in the lane that God has written for us.

The truth that I have realized is that I will never in a million years regret making choices and aligning priorities that put my family first.  I’ll never regret choosing playtime with my daughter over the chance to look busy to my peers. I’ll never regret choosing to snuggle with my husband instead of posting to social media to drum up business or clean out my inbox.

I’ll never go to bed with mom guilt if every decision I make has Brad and Henley at the heart of it.  

These are some of the best days of my life.  These are days that I’ve prayed for over and over.  I can’t help but think that I am meant to soak up every single second whole heartedly while being as present as possible.

Does this mean any changes are happening to Abby Hudson Photography??  Nope!!!  This is my dream job, yall!!  I’m super lucky to get to live it out every day!!  I’m still booking sessions and weddings.  I still have so much heart for my clients and I still am so honored to work with each and every person that becomes a part of the Abby Hudson Photography family.

I’m just going to be more conscious of getting work done during office hours, closing up shop for family time after hours, and creating healthy social media boundaries from now on. 🙂

Did today’s post resonate with you??  Lemme know your thoughts, I’d love to chat!!  Drop a comment below or email me at abby@abbyhudson.com

Photo below from that 70 degree day and fresh air adventure I mentioned above 🙂