A Time to Capture Moments

Taking photos or videos are great ways to capture moments. I tend to forget to take photos as I have grown up in a family with lots of people who love taking them. I have had to learn to look for picture moments since I’ve been writing this blog. The sky is always a good option, and nature is always changing and mostly beautiful. People matter too. Living on my own, I don’t often have someone to take a picture of me when I have a good photo idea. So, I have to get better at capturing moments with people.

In the dance world, there have been many beautiful captured dance moves, and many failed dance moves. My goal as a teacher is to work through those failed moments so that when the dancers hit the stage it is picture perfect as often as possible. Failing is inevitable, it is what we do after our failed moments that matters. Picking our selves up and taking a next step is all that we can do to make a pivot to what just happened.

Falling down is the most common way dance moments are ruined. My dancers who fall always look at me- wondering if I saw it happen, and they look for cues on how they should react. Little ones will come to tears, some of the middle schoolers will be embarrassed, the older girls will mostly brush it off and try to forget that it happened. Occasionally we laugh when the person who fell laughs first. We have to learn from falling down. We have to figure out what went wrong so that we can correct it to make it a beautiful moment next time. Practice matters.

In life we have beautiful moments in life along with the ‘Oops I did it again’ moments. There are also the ‘now what?’ moments that stump a lot of people. What you do next after you fall in those moments will impact how you life afterwards. Hopefully you are able to capture and enjoy more of the beautiful moments. The more I look for them, the more I find them. Sometimes it is worth capturing the not so beautiful moments in order to really enjoy the truly beautiful ones.

When we read a book or watch a movie, we wait intently for the pivotal moments. Why do we get so confused when we experience them in our own lives? Big Brother’s catch line is ‘expect the unexpected.’ I have been learning to live life this way. Problem solving is a daily task whether it is at work or at home. I have been more graceful with myself and with my work the more I realize what I am in control of and what I am not. It is okay to not be in control of everything.

My hope and prayer is that you pick yourself up and choose to do something in the areas you see yourself failing. I hope that you are able to see more beautiful moments in your life – even if it means you have to create them for yourself. Make more moments matter, and capture them. I pray I can do the same.

Cheers! – Em

“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.” – unknown

“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. Develop from the negatives, and if things don’t work out take another shot.” – unknown

“Remember: If you avoid failure, you also avoid success.” – unknown