So 2017 turned out to be a pretty crazy year and not necessarily in the best of ways. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of great things that happened last year – things I’m extremely grateful for, but I also found myself in a number of situations I would happily never be in again.
This isn’t the time to go into detail about these things, I would far rather focus on the positives that have come out of those events than the negativity of the events themselves, but doing that is impossible without a little background.
There were 3 key events for me last year, each stemmed from a different area of my life yet heavily impacted every other aspect. Over the course of 5 months I left a job and went self employed, watched a friend battle for his life following an accident and then underwent repeat surgery myself for a back problem. Now I don’t imagine for a minute that I am the only person who has been through a sequence of events such as this, but I do believe that life is what you make of it and you have to take what you can from all situations you find yourself in.
These three events all had a significant effect on me in the moment, but more than this, I believe they have had a cumulative effect on me which has ignited into an ongoing flame, a drive to do the best I can, be the best I can, as you just never know what is around the corner.
As a result of this new-found drive I have made a number of changes in my life and I am already starting to see and feel the benefits. Firstly, I made a commitment to myself to exercise more. Following my first round of surgery years ago I didn’t really acknowledge the importance of physio and exercise, and as a result my range of movement was quite limited. This is changing already after just a few weeks, partly thanks to my physio and partly thanks to the Prime Evolution programme from Break-Point.
Another element to the Prime Evolution programme is cleaner eating, which I have really embraced and even gone as far as ditching sugar from my tea (which anyone who has ever made me a brew will tell you is a big thing!). The thing I have found the hardest is making changes to my mindset. On good days I have noticed that I have felt really positive and it’s hard for anything to get me down. All it takes though is a night like last night, when my youngest woke at midnight and wouldn’t go back to sleep until almost 2:30am, and that has such a huge effect on my day. I’m working on it though, and through a range of little things I think I am starting to cope better.
One thing I have found that really helps is being outdoors. I have always loved the outdoors and you would be amazed at some of the places you can find right on your doorstep. Remarkably close to home I have discovered some public footpaths that might as well be 20 miles into the middle of nowhere they’re that quiet and peaceful. I try and get out with our Border Collie, Sami, for at least 2 miles every day, and I’ve started making good use of my Garmin watch for tracking all my activities (there’s more about Sami and the watch coming in a blog soon…).
From a business point of view, there have been and will be more weddings to shoot, another season of powerboat racing starting in May, and I am in the process of applying for a PfCO from the CAA so that I can add drone operations to my list of available services. All in all, I’m excited about 2018. There are some new opportunities on the horizon and in myself I’m feeling the best I’ve felt for years.
Bryan Scott Photography 