The Day I Learned To Value My Time

 

Who else is in the midst of a crazy season? Shooting sessions back to back, driving to crazy locations for that perfect photo or maybe staying up till 2 a.m. editing your life away with a glass of wine? Well, my friends, that is currently me. I used to love this. Sure, it was crazy and I spent less time with my family, but I, with my full heart and soul, LOVE my job.

“Why are you writing this then?” 

Well my life changed drastically a little over two months ago. My son and I went to his routine checkup. During this check up, we went through a check list, to see how he was progressing. He was zero on the score chart for quite a few things, and I told myself, “He is just behind; he is learning things in his own time.” It wasn’t until we got back to the car that the doctor’s words began to to sink in. “He has seemed to go backwards when it comes to development, and I would like you to see a speech therapist. If he doesn’t improve by his next appointment I would like to look into testing him for autism.”

Her words kept repeating over and over in my head. My life changed in an instant when I heard those words. What was the future going to hold for my son? From there we started speech therapy, and unfortunately we did not see the progress they were looking for.  Now we are looking into occupational therapy and next month…we will be starting the tests.

We haven’t received much good news in the past few months; hence, why we are going to start testing my son for autism. We have celebrated every triumph, soaked in every moment and snuggled every chance we got. I am not sure what the future holds for us as a family. But I will be damned if I don’t cherish every second I have with my son.

So, my advice to you this busy season is to know your time is worth something. Realize every free session you give out, every discount you give to fit a extra session in is precious time you are spending away from your beautiful family. Love your job but love your family more. Value your time because it is a precious gift that you can never get back.