As someone who has focused on personal growth and development, a key factor of my life is to always be evolving and to accept the change. The thought of evolution sparked in my mind this morning when thinking about my progression over the last year and more importantly with this blog. I started out wanting to do something creative and it most likely was going to be in photography. I wanted to pivot out of the rut that I was in and start building a different and more rewarding life. That life I wanted evolved heavily on creative pursuits. Over the last year though I have strayed from the photography but that’s the point of this is that I evolved. I found something that was more satisfying and rewarding.
Don’t get me wrong I love photography and it’s a form of art that I truly find rewarding but it always felt like it was only ever going to be a hobby. I couldn’t make a living at it, I feel like I’m a good photographer on some levels but I would never be a excellent and meaningful photographer. In a way I really have to thank Wisconsin winters for leading me down the path that I did, to pursue something new that I would quite literally and quickly fall in love with, web development. See I hate the winters here, I can’t stand being outside, especially at night (when I take most of my photos) so I would stay inside and not be able to hone my skill. That was the first sign that I would never go beyond just a passionate hobby. So with my boredom setting in and quickly becoming stir crazy I decided that I would learn something new and with that I began my journey to becoming a web developer.
My blog has changed over the last few months to having more technical articles or recaps of my previous week of what I learned on my journey. Slowly the things that I started this blog on as the foundation become less and less prevalent. There were moments where I felt like a fraud or someone who couldn’t stand by their convictions of being an aspiring creative. What I found though and what was solidified to me today was that web development is creative and I have a stronger conviction to becoming a great and creative web developer. Writing code is an art, an art of intellect and imagination, it is the balance that I’ve been looking for, it’s the peace that I’ve been pursuing.
The realization that I can be more creative and reach more people through developing web applications than I ever could as a photographer or a writer was huge and web development is something I feel like I can become great at. Maybe I won’t be the best developer but I don’t see greatness as being the best, I see greatness as being impactful in a positive way. You could be the best damn developer in the world but if you never give back to your community and share your knowledge you will never be truly great, greatness comes from giving of yourself to empower a few or millions, that’s greatness. Working on building the Firehose Project community has be profoundly important to me and I’ve had a wonderful sense of accomplishment and growth by giving back more than I take.
With all this being said we come full circle to evolution. I allowed myself to change and follow my passion. When I started out this blog and my pursuit of doing creative work I never thought I would end up becoming a web developer. My photography as my primary means of expressing my creative side may no longer be the focus of my attention but I found something that suits me better than I could have ever imagined. I have found a world and a community that I would be able to be creative and intellectual. I’ve also found a means to give back, share, teach, and help grow something truly amazing. When I look back on my path over the years between jobs, hobbies, passions, and pursuits it all seems like my evolutions have always been about getting me to this point in my life. I feel like this is what I was meant to do, the years of learning of art, manufacturing, and IT have all converged in this one means of expression. My evolution has not always been smooth but it always happened and today I can say that it’s evolved to into the best thing I could’ve imagined.