At the end of 2021, I decided that my “word of the year” for 2022 was going to be explore. I wrote an extensive blog post on all of the many reasons why I decided on this word and you can read it here if you are interested.

But I decided that, to keep on track and to ensure that I continued to lean into this word throughout the year, why not share my thoughts along the way?

So here we are at the end of January and what lessons have a learnt so far?

Exploring means seeing things with new eyes

Well, I have to admit that having a mindset of “exploration” meant that I often found myself being more open-minded. It felt quite childlike actually, looking at certain things with fresh eyes and it definitely made me reconsider possibilities that I may have easily dismissed in the past.

On the first day of the year we headed to the coast, something that we try and do every year (personally, I much prefer to get up early and do this rather than stay up late on New Years Eve). We found ourselves in Lyme Regis, foggy but beautiful and always awe-inspiring. We hunted for fossils, ate our sandwiches on the Cobb, got more than a little wind-swept, breathed in the sea air and took shelter in a local hotel for a much-needed hot drink and a sit down. Having fallen a little out of love with taking photos simply for fun, I forced myself to take my camera. And so, armed with just one lens and pushing myself to shoot as wide open as I could, I did some technical and compositional exploration.

And do you know what? I really enjoyed it! It really made me think about when to pull out my camera and when to just be present in the moment.

Since then, I have jumped at lots of other opportunities to get out and explore. Sometimes by myself, sometimes joining my sister and her family on a day out. I even helped my nieces with a photo assignment and I have to say that exploring the world through their eyes was educational in it’s own right. All in all I think I’ve made very good use of my National Trust membership this month!

Exploring sometimes means working out what not do do

The first week back at my desk after Christmas, I was excited to plan in some time for “exploring”. The thought of having some time set aside each day to delve into whatever took my fancy, to follow intriguing paths wherever they might lead, to let my imagination run wild was just so enticing! But as soon as I sat down for my first dedicated session, I came to the realisation that I didn’t have a clue where to start! There were just too many options! Should I follow this avenue or that one? Should I write notes or create mind maps? It was all very confusing and I spent more time thinking about “how” I should conduct these sessions than I did actually doing any exploring!

When I spoke about this to my very wise business buddy Emma, she simply said “don’t force it”. She pointed out that I was overthinking things and I needed to let the ideas flow naturally. Of course she was totally right.

Fast forward a few weeks and I have already abandoned my daily “explore” sessions! It might seem counter-intuitive but I came to the realisation that it wasn’t serving me. I had explored the possibility of setting myself time for these sessions and it didn’t work. No need to flog a dead horse! I simply accepted it and moved on.

Exploring means revisiting old ideas but with a new mindset

With a more open mindset to explore I finally (finally!) got around to organising a Bath Photowalk. I used to run walks every 4-6 weeks with the aim being to visit local places of interest and do something fun and sociable with other like-minded individuals. The pandemic put a stop to the walks but I have to admit that I was already struggling to juggle all of my own work with planning and running the walks. They had started to become a bit of a chore and I wasn’t enjoying them as much as I had been. It feels a shame to say it but the pandemic gave me a breather, a chance to realise that I really did miss the walks and that I was putting too much pressure on myself to make them enjoyable for everyone else at the expense of my own enjoyment. My word of the year in 2021 was “Simplicity” and so, combined with my aim to “Explore” this year, I felt ready to resurrect the walks but, finally, on my own terms.

All in all I am feeling positive and also glad that I chose “explore” as my word of the year. There are still 11 months of the year to go and I am already investigating other avenues of exploration - I’m just not ready to share them yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to soon - I feel as though I need a little more time for the ideas to solidify and become tangible before I do so. In the meantime, I’ll leave it there for this month. Be sure to drop by at the start of March to see where my explorations lead over the next 4 weeks…