Gaining a new perspective: Victoria’s trip to Italy

I’m not known as shy, but ironically on social media, I am.  My profession requires me to be on social media daily and I joyously study Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and even tiktok (a new guilty pleasure. I just love watching the videos of our military service men and women being reunited with families.)

Of all the social outlets, I enjoy Instagram the most. I love the visual nature of it. For several years I have cultivated an Instagram page or two.  I use them as creative journals where I can curate my venture into photography and drawing.  I post with regularity and enjoy seeing my talents progress and the refinement of my style.

What I have learned is I feast on color in my photography.  I love finding color in the world, framing it to my eye’s aesthetic and adding it to my “journal”.  On a recent trip to Italy I was invigorated by the bursts of color, the light and the art I found everywhere.

I returned from my trip realizing how often we get mired down in our daily grind and our brains stop creating. Maybe we lose perspective, and become blind to the world around us.  The trip snapped my visual sense awake and I found myself on the same schedule I had at home; popping up at 4:30am with my mind abuzz with ideas, ambition and purpose.

In 2020 I have challenged the NK&A team to get out, experience life through a different lens; to travel, attend conferences, meet new people and venture to new places.  It can be as simple as a new café in which to work, driving a different way to a regular place or flying to Colorado to visit with your kids (way to go, Dwight)! I will be going on more of my weekend photo walks, taking a few courses online, continuing with my weekend adventures and traveling to new places.  What will you do to mix things up?