Being Still Is Not Easy

“There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those of you who know me personally know that I have a struggle with standing still. I can’t do it! If I have to stand still, I have to distract myself, or more other parts of my body. My students have pointed out to me that even when I stand still, I bounce while standing still. Truth be told I rarely stand still while teaching. I am constantly on the go, walking around the room, and observing what my students are doing. Typically, after about half of my school day, I have already put in about 6500 steps. Standing still is rarely an option for me, but when it comes to life I have been trying to stand still and reflect. I keep looking back over the last 2 years, and I see ways that I believe I have improved as a person. When the pandemic started in March of 2020, I knew one day it would end (even though as of today it feels like it is never ending), and I told myself that I wanted to be a better person on the other side of it. One thing I did not do well before the pandemic was pause and reflect. I was on the go almost every day, and while it’s a sense of accomplishment to be busy it can lead to burn out. Now I have time every day just for pausing. I have about an hour a day before I go to work where I pray, read the Bible, and write. It’s this daily moment of standing still that has given me the strength to make it through the challenging days and to appreciate the good ones.

While on my last couple of photo trips I have been playing with my ND filter by K&F Concepts I bought for my lens a few weeks ago. It really allows me to have fun by taking shots that would be almost impossible without it. To pull these shots off I have my camera on an Amazon’s basic mini-tripod and an Amazon basic remote. I took these photos at First Ward Park near UNC-Charlotte in Uptown. It’s a fun urban park with a great view of Uptown in the background. It’s one of my favorite places to ride to. Using the filter has allowed me to take amazing slow shutter shots and cool landscape photos with fantastic details.