Fresh Starts

It's both silly and understandable when people make New Year's resolutions. They feel that this new year can be a fresh start, a way to make a decision that we can stick with, a clean slate to start over and learn from our past mistakes. People forget that every day is a fresh start, a new day to make mistakes, learn from them, make new decisions.
My blog has suffered lately. I'm an assistant manager at an amazing retail shop and it's holiday season. That means that other than Erica and Jason, no one has really seen or heard from me in the last 2 months. While it's not 100% and I won't get my hopes up, it looks as though I'll be getting promoted soon. I've worked really hard the last 5 months to prove that I'm not just some stupid 24 year old who can't do anything. I think it's paid off--I'm making myself indispensable to my business, ensuring that when they need a photographer, a website helper, a manager, a marketing guru, or even a babysitter, I'm the one they come to and can trust. I think it's worked so far. I've been doing all those things and I can't begin to explain how satisfying it is to work a job I love, to work for great employers, to enjoy conversations with your coworkers and customers. It's not the typical retail job and I'm so lucky for that.
I work really hard when I'm at the store. When I'm at home, I enjoy relaxation, to the point it could be considered lazy. I'm easily sucked into television because it's too cold to leave the apartment. I can say I have no projects to work on because no one's coming to me. But in the back of my mind, I know that warm weather will return and that I have to be the one to make people come to me, because otherwise they won't know any better. I know that I need to shake off the lazy winter blues and start preparing for new things. Things that might (will hopefully) affect me for many years to come. The decision's been on its way, but now there are zero excuses for letting it slide. The holidays are over, which means I'll have a little more free time and hopefully a little more money. I have the right equipment so I can't complain about how I need things and I have projects that are trying to get lined up.
Basically...Erica and I are going to try our hand at our own photography/graphic design business. She knows how to build a brand; I know how to market it and collect clients. As always, we're two halves of a whole--separately, we can't get much done, but together, it'll eventually explode into good things. I know this because it's always worked that way. We motivate one another, work hard on things we enjoy doing, and have the ambition to succeed. We work and play well together. We've always done this and we're now out of excuses to put anything off.
We've got a long way to go. My mother didn't raise an idiot-it's going to be a lot of hard work and frustration, long hours, and little payoff, at least for the first year. I'd love to say that we can take over the field in 6 months, but I know it's going to take more than just a smile and click of the shutter. I fully expect our blood, sweat, and tears to be taken into account. But I feel like we're ready; like this has always been brewing in the back of our heads, but it's only now that everything's falling into the right places. And now we just have to sit down, focus, figure out the exact steps needed, and then...do them. I have faith in us, this endeavor. Erica and I have taken on and achieved too many things for us to fail. We're both too ambitious, too motivated, too smart to just give up.
My blog will suffer (as though it hasn't already). I'll post a link to the new photography blog and website when it's established. I'm ready for this to happen and I'm excited about the possibilities it brings. We both are; I have all the faith in the world for us.