Loud and Proud

In my last blog I talked about Living Out Loud and now I guess this blog is really to explain what that happens to look like in this moment in our lives. Its my way I guess of showing you that I don't just blog to tell people what they should be doing with their lives. I actually attempt to practice what I preach. Of course sometimes I fail but even then its ok because sometimes we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. In this case I hope that its a success and not a failure but only time will tell.

My bucket list grows more and more each week but I'm happy to say that I'm checking things off every chance I get. I marked 3 things off on Halloween night alone. I took my girls trick or treating which also happened to be my first time going as well. Later that night I went to my first haunted house and also shot zombies with paintball guns. Ok so shooting Zombies wasn't really on my bucket list but it was so much fun that I added it after the fact because frankly I think it should be on everyone's list lol. I told you my list was full of fun not so serious things and these are just a couple that I have crossed off my list.

There are of course bigger more serious things on my list and I'm proud to say that one is quickly becoming a reality. There are several things on my list that are things I used to dream of doing and I realized that there is never a better time than now. I tried to figure out what stopped me from doing all these things. Sure there are a million excuses, time and money are the biggest two but really neither of these or any other excuses I came up with really explained what was stopping me. You see thats part of goal setting. You have to think up everything you can that might get in your way and then find a solution. Becoming a photographer has always been a dream of mine. Long before I ever really knew how to work a camera. Now part of this was because I wanted to be like my uber cool Uncle Tim. He is the reason I have done many things like learn to play drums and be adventurous. Then in high school I had the chance to actually learn photography. OK sure it was one class and it certainly didn't make me an expert but it sure made me realize how much I loved it. Then life happened. I grew up, got a job, and got busy with life. While going through Chemo I promised myself I would write down every dream I had and I would think back to old ones. If I still had a desire to do them I would see to it that it happened. Photography was the first on that list the only things stopping me was a camera. Then as a gift from my in-laws this summer I was given the camera of my dreams. So I set out to make it happen. Shawn encouraged me supported me along the way. I'm happy to say that one of my biggest goals on my bucket list is quickly becoming a reality. I have officially started a photography business. Shawn just finished my website last week. You can view my work at http://www.bealphotography.com/ and you can also find Beal Photography on facebook. This is what we hope is the first of many changes we are making to our lives. Remember what I said about goal setting. Its not about the future. If it was I never would have taken the first steps to having my own photography website. Its about what you can do right now to make your dreams come true. What that meant for me was going out and taking pictures. It meant setting aside time to read about it, to learn my camera and about editing and most importantly it meant taking pictures as often as I could. I love capturing life! As I said if Loving Out Loud means having compassion than Living Out Loud means having passion and photography is my passion. Its not my only one though so expect to hear more on this topic in the future. Sometimes compassion and passion join forces and I'm hoping that in the not too distant future my passion for photography will join my compassion for something else. More on that if and when it happens.

Many of my past blogs have been about finding purpose and giving back. There are things on my bucket list regarding this as well and I'm hoping that one of them will be a reality in the very near future. This has nothing to do with what I mentioned above with photography. I have been trying to find ways to give back to the breast cancer community since my diagnosis. To use this disease to also give back to God and serve him. Now I won't go into a lot of detail because frankly I'm still working those details out and trying to recruit the people needed to get it started. I will tell you that I'm working on starting a non profit organization for breast cancer survivors. No this isn't about raising money to find a cure. There are already organizations out there that do that and do it quite well. If you would like to help raise money or support one of these organizations the two I recommend are the Susan G. Komen foundation http://www.komen.org/ and the IBC Network Foundation http://www.theibcnetwork.org/. This new organization I'm working on is a faith based organization for survivors and their spouses. Its more about healing the soul than the body.There is a lot of work ahead of us. So why blog about it at this stage of the game? Well because for the past several blogs I have talked about reaching out and and seeing the bigger picture. About making a difference in this world while we are here and have the chance. I believe so strongly in finding Gods purpose for us and seeing it through. I want want readers to understand that I don't just talk a big game but try honestly to live by my words but the results are not always immediate.

This is only one part of why I think He put me here but I feel like my readers should know that I don't just say things because they sound good. Things like this take time though and I can assure you that when the time is right there will be more information to follow. In the mean time we will continue to follow God's purpose in our lives however that may look. I'm hoping that overtime there will be more blogs about not just how we intend to live our lives but on how we are actually doing that. I'm not big on new years resolutions because I think that we should be daily living our lives to the fullest and following our dreams but as this year draws to a close I encourage you to think about this next one. Think back on your dreams from the past. Did you see them through? If not what stopped you? Would you still like to see it happen? If so then there is no better time than this moment to commit to doing it. Weather its something silly or serious set out and make it happen. While you are at it look at the bigger picture. What is Gods purpose for you life? What are you doing to for Him today? Maybe its time to make some changes. Think big, dream big because with God all things are possible.