6 Things I Learned This Fall // 2019

So I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t do a very good job at reflecting on this last season. It’s been very busy, and I’ve had a lot going on – 2 weddings which involved traveling back to mid-America, shoots, the shop, work stuff, personal stuff and changes. So writing down the things I learned this fall was not high on the to-do list. Ha!

But I find value in doing these seasonal reflections and think they are important to do and keep ourselves in check with life. Because let’s face it, life gets busy and hectic, and before we know it, it’s been a full year and we’re left standing and wondering what the heck happened and where did the time go! Am I right?

So these kind of post challenges, although sometimes annoying or seem frivolous, really force me to think about things and pay attention.

When I was thinking back on this last season, I’ve had a hard time thinking about “lessons” or things I’ve learned. In the past, these usually come to me without much thought. But like I mentioned above, this season was extremely buys. So this time around, I’m expanding the thought of “learning something” to things I’ve discovered.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

1. BTI5 is my latest podcast obsession.

2. A lot of what I’ve learned from my writing ventures I’m able to apply in my photography business.

3. You’ll find your people, and they’ll find you.

Last WIL, I mentioned I would be going to a hope*writer meet up for Hope*Writer Day. Well, I met some amazing people that night, and we have met up every month since that day! It’s a small group of 5 women, and we get together for dinner and drinks and talk about writing, struggles, all the things. We are getting together for this month’s meet-up this week – Holiday Edition – and we are making vision/quote boards, and I’m so excited!

4. Just go for it. (Even if you have something to lose)

5. I can cook Thanksgiving, again.

Last fall, I wrote about how I cooked my very first turkey (and whole Thanksgiving meal). And this year, I cooked our meal again! I actually saved a highlight of last year’s cooking shenanigans mainly for myself so I could recreate the meal this year (ha!), but I thought it might give you some ideas if you ever need to cook a large, holiday meal!

6. Meeting internet friends IRL is so much fun and life-giving.

Kournti and I have been following each other on instagram for a few years now. And I honestly don’t remember how we started following each other, we actually tried to remember when we got together, but we’ve always been encouraging each other on various tough life things. We both lived in Oklahoma, but weren’t friends at that time. When I moved to Oregon, she commented that she had family in Oregon and had been to some of the places we went to on the coast! We discovered a few other random connections, and we just always kept in touch, even though we had never met in real life.

Cut to this fall, when she was visiting family in Oregon, we were able to coordinate our schedules and finally meet in real life, in person! We met up in Springfield at a cute little cafe, enjoyed some brunch and coffee, then went vintage shopping together. It was like we had been friends for years and didn’t feel forced or like we had just met a couple hours before.