Reflecting on 2020 and setting goals for 2021

Hello everyone! Welcome back! :)

First of all Happy New Year!

I hope you all had amazing holidays and managed to get some time for yourselves to recharge for the new year.

This post will be a small reflection on the 2020, that was despite all difficulties also a wake up call, and setting goals for 2021.

I usually always set some goals for the upcoming year, but then very soon forget about them. I think it’s because I don’t set clear goals and then I somehow get lost in what should be done and how it should be done. This time I would like to also reflect on the year that is behind me and then according to this, set my goals for the next one.

Firstly, I am very grateful for every opportunity I had and for all of the people that I got to work with. I must say that I couldn’t even imagine having some of these chances, and/or being chosen to work on particular projects. Also having clients that come back and are happy with the way we work together is every freelancer’s dream.

My year started with having lots of goals but not so clear ones. I was still lost wether I should still try to apply for some full time jobs (as a photographer, those positions don’t really exist haha) or I should gather the courage and start swimming in the freelancer pond. Then I started to get new projects that required me to have an option to write invoices and the decision has been made.

What no one, me included, expected was the lockdown and global pandemic. I received my papers for freelance job when the lockdown in Germany has already begun. No one knew how long it will last, and oh well, we still don’t know. At the time I was once again, lost. How should I proceed? What should I do? Should I stay in Berlin or go home? Lots of decisions and questions. So I decided to just keep going and try to live in the moment. I stayed in Berlin, didn’t leave Germany the whole year, haven’t seen my family and baby dog for a year now. I had to move 3 times (I’m a true Berliner now haha). Beside all of that, I am still dealing with chronic health issues.
Now all this looks dark, but it’s not really. Everything that has happened made me realise how grateful I am for what I have, for the choices I have the possibility to make, the options I have and the support from my family and friends. 2020 was some sort of a wake-up call for me. I’ve been living for the past 2 or 3 years constantly being lost and not sure of what I’m doing and what I should be doing. And now I was finally forced to stop for a second and let my brain relax, at first, and then come up with proper ideas and plans. I’ve managed to re-think my business and business ideas. To make a proper schedule and plan and put it all on paper and start working towards my goals step by step. Also, becoming a freelancer was definitely the best choice I’ve made.

Overall, this year has been a complete rollercoaster but I can say I got out of it stronger than I got on it. It was a weird adventure.

Now I will not say much about the upcoming events and all of the goals, wouldn’t want to spoil the fun right away but I will mention a few.

After getting some experience with teaching both live and online, I’ve realised that I really enjoy teaching and helping people out using the knowledge I have. All this made me think if I could somehow bring this to a much bigger scale, and that’s how the thought of opening my own photography school came to my mind. Now this is not as easy as I thought at the beginning, but I am working towards it every day. It would be a dream to get the opportunity to teach and help people get their photo results by learning from me. What keeps me going is also the fact that I’ve received great feedback about my previous teaching, and seeing people happy afterwards is an amazing feeling!

There are a few goals not related to photography that have been in the making for the last few months, this project is going to be really big, and when the time comes I will talk about it more!

Feel free to check some of the moments from last year here.

See you soon with more photography related topics!

New interviews coming soon as well!
Have a great week everyone!