I make this blog post at the end of every year. It’s helpful to have a space where I sit down and reflect on the past year of my business and dream for the future of it. I love going back and reading past reviews and seeing what I thought was important a year before and if I fulfilled my goals, or if my plans changed. 2021 didn’t go at all the way I had imagined it would, but I’m thankful for everything it brought me.

Here’s my 2021 Review and 2022 Goals!

2021 Review

Each season of 2021 was intense in its own way. Each month brought new challenges and new ways for me to appreciate this life I’ve built for myself.

In the first few months of the year, I was a full-time student teacher in grad school at JMU. I created lesson plans, taught classes to middle and high schoolers, and did work for my own college course. I counted down the days until graduation and my eventual freedom of being a full-time photographer.

Spring was one of the busiest seasons of my life. From 6 AM to 4 PM I was driving to school, teaching all day, then driving home. Every afternoon I walked to the JMU Quad to photograph a senior session, walked back, edited the session while I ate dinner, delivered the session, took a shower, went to bed, and did it again the next day. On weekends I photographed weddings and edited all day in between more senior sessions.

I finally graduated in the beginning of May and had about two weeks of celebrating and taking more senior portraits before I suddenly and unexpectedly found myself homeless. My plan for the summer was to finally tackle all the big projects I had been waiting to start until after graduation (including launching my travel blog) and get ahead on my content for my businesses. Instead, I found myself living out of my car for three months without WIFI.

Although I was incredibly stressed and upset, I’m proud of myself and how I made the most of my situation. I visited friends and family. I explored all 41 state parks in Virginia. I drove all of Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountain National Park and spent more time in nature than ever before. I hiked countless miles and saw views I never thought to see.

I grew a lot during those months. I was incredibly happy and learned a lot about myself, but those joys didn’t come without more than their fair share of sorrows. Due to my lack of service and WIFI, my entire business came to a near halt: I couldn’t write blog posts, I couldn’t share YouTube videos, I couldn’t post on social media, and I couldn’t do any of the projects I had waited so long to do. I managed to find service on top of mountains or in random Starbucks so I could send emails, but that was the most I could do.

I finally moved into my new apartment at the end of August. I had one week to move in, then fall photography season started. Every weekend I had 1-3 weddings, and every weekday I had 1-2 sessions. When I didn’t have a camera in my hand, I was sitting at my laptop editing. I consistently forgot to eat meals and exercise. I loved my couples, my seniors, and my passion shoots, but ultimately it was too much. By the time autumn and the busy season ended, I was completely burned out.

Since fall was too busy with photography, I had once again pushed all my non-essential work and projects to winter (including my blog, YouTube, social media, travel blog, and much more). After taking all of November off to rest, I tried to jump back into projects in early December, but for the first time in YEARS I couldn’t get myself to work.

I had lost all motivation. I didn’t have the words for blog posts. I didn’t have the thoughts to outline YouTube videos. I didn’t have the desire to pick up my camera. I couldn’t find the energy to build my travel blog. I dreaded opening Instagram. I was just so tired.

If you know me in real life, then you know that I LOVE to work. For years I’ve spent almost every second of my free time working on businesses and passion projects. I can’t sit idle. I have to be working towards something. I truly love it.

So when I tell you that I was devastated that I couldn’t work, I really was. Around this same time my personal life took two major hits, and between that and being burned out, I spent my December and January in a spiral.

After months of trying to get back on my feet, it wasn’t until early February that I was finally able to get back to work and be excited about it. I’m not sure what finally got me out, but it probably had to do with the fact that I leave for a 9 month backpacking trip across Europe in June. A hard deadline sure has a way of kicking your butt into gear.

That’s why I’m publishing this 2021 review in mid March instead of the last day of December like I always have before. It absolutely killed me that I couldn’t find the motivation to do it last year, but I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that it’s ok to recover and rest, as long as I can find the good that will motivate me to push forward.

2021 in Numbers

Photographed 18 weddings + several as a second shooter

Photographed 28 couples sessions, proposals, engagement sessions, and anniversary sessions

Photographed 112 senior sessions

Photographed several more family sessions, portrait sessions, and events

Attended 3 styled shoots and countless editorials I planned and created

Hiked dozens of new and favorite trails

Went on several road trips to North and South Carolina

Lived in my new-to-me car for 3 months

Explored all 41 Virginia State Parks

Drive all 469 miles of Blue Ridge Parkway, then explored Great Smoky Mountain National Park and NE Tennessee

Road tripped with my best friend and added 4 states to our State Drink Challenge (15 down + 2 Canadian provinces!)

Visited countless vineyards, breweries, and cideries

Moved out of the house I’ve lived in for four years and into a new apartment I love

Read 76 books (10 were business books)

How I Accomplished My 2021 Goals

1. My first goal was to survive student teaching and graduate with my masters. Eventually it became easier when I realized it might be the only teaching I’ll ever get to do in a high school English classroom. It had been a dream of mine for 11 years, and in the end it was bittersweet.

2. I wanted to increase the amount of blogs and YouTube videos I was publishing. Instead, both were completely halted. I’m still upset about not being able to produce content last year, but I’m learning to be ok with it and look forward instead.

3. I had wanted to fully launch my blogging for photographers course, make it better, then launch it again. This was supposed to be a summer project. If you read everything above, you’ll know that all of my projects kept getting pushed back and still haven’t been completed.

4. I wanted to continue my journey of business self-education through courses, podcasts, YouTube videos, and more. In the spring I continued this goal, but in the summer I lost all motivation to learn because I couldn’t implement what I was learning. In the fall I was too busy, and in the winter I was unmotivated. I still haven’t gone back to them.

5. My last goal was this: “Continue to make time for me. Take days off. Read more books. Go on more hikes. Explore my area more. Travel if I can.” I unintentionally knocked this one out of the park. I took months off of work instead of my hoped-for days. I traveled WAY more than I wanted to. I spent more time hiking, exploring, and being outside than I had planned. I read more than double the amount of books I read in 2020. I learned to do more things for me: go to vineyards by myself for lunch dates, ride horses because I wanted to, watch sunsets in beautiful places, and more.

My Goals for 2022

You’d think I’d learn by now, but I’m still as ambitious as ever. Here are my goals for this year:

1. From now (mid March) until I leave for my trip on June 2nd (less than 12 weeks away), I hope to batch an entire year’s worth of blog posts, YouTube videos, social media content, and more for my photography business. I hope to photograph tons of seniors and give them the best experiences possible. I hope to launch my travel blog (I just hired someone else to build the website for me) and get a few blog posts for that ready. I hope to start my book Instagram and TikTok accounts. I hope to plan as much as my trip as possible. We’ll see how much I can actually get done.

2. Starting June 2nd until August 30th, I will be backpacking around Europe with my best friend. I hope to work as little as possible and enjoy my adventures as much as I can.

3. For the 3.5 weeks I’ll be back in the States in September, I hope to photograph as many weddings and sessions as I can, and see a few of my friends.

4. From September 25th until February 27th I will continue my European traveling. I hope to have the best time of my life, and I hope that I am happy.

Other than that, I have no goals. I hope this year will be filled with adventure and give me a taste of what the rest of my life can look like. I hope I continue to love running my three businesses and find joy in every day. I hope 2022 is the best year yet.