I was getting my eyes checked  this morning (for the first time in 10 years… eek). My eye doctor asked what my profession was. I said I was a wedding photographer. He went on and on about how awesome of a job that must be. I get to travel, go to parties (weddings) all of the time, work for myself, etc.

I know he was being nice and making small talk. And, I do agree with those things most of the time. They are great perks. But, as he was talking I started to think sometimes I feel like it’s not so awesome.

Sometimes it all gets to be too much.

Owning a photography business I mean. The facebooking, the tweeting, trying to get a blog post up on a regular basis, always having a smile on my face (even in a stressful situation), working late hours so I can be a mom during normal people hours, marketing myself, educating myself and working on my camera skills, checking the never ending email inbox…. you get my point.

It can be exhausting.

Way too many times, I’ve let myself run out of fumes. To point where I feel uninspired about what I do, I feel stressed, and yes, emotional (gotta love those woman hormones).

So for today, I wanted to share some advice. It’s simple. SLOW DOWN. Take time to be refreshed.

And  don’t just wait until you get to the point where you feel burnt out. Schedule time in advance each year… so you can have those vacations or moments to rebuild, relax, and regroup.

This has been one of the most important things for me in my business.

This past month (July). I took two weeks off. It was incredible and so needed. Heck, I am thinking next year I may take off three weeks. 🙂

I have come back this work week with a big to do list… but felt ready to accomplish it. I have a wedding in New York this weekend and I am actually excited to shoot it. I am ready to be creative and challenged.

People of the internet, your mission…. should you choose to accept it (and I would!)… go look at your schedule and see where you can take time out to relax. It doesn’t have to be a full week. Maybe just a day off here or there. Maybe you should just take a week off from social media and tv. Whatever you feel can give you time to refresh… DO IT.

It is so, so worth it.

My first week of vacation was on a cruise with my hubby. You can see a few images of that here.

My second, was spent at my in-laws lake house in Lake Geneva, WI. I love that place. And while I didn’t pull my camera out very much at all (thanks to my mom in love  Peggi’s advice to just relax)… I did get a few shots. So here they are.

Ellie’s first time jumping off a diving board!