THE TWO FACES OF LIES AND TRUTH

“You look so happy! Hope you are doing well.”

I wasn’t happy when I read her message on Facebook. I wasn’t happy because I had succeeded. I’d booked another photography client, and that was a good thing—a responsible thing. I need cash flow to launch Rubber Rooster Media. I need cash flow so I can leave my photography business behind for good this time.

“Please tell me you will come back to take my daughter’s senior photos,” one of my favorite clients sent me a text as I was packing to leave Washington State for good.

I smiled. Her daughter is currently nine years old. I will be a completely different person by the time her daughter is a senior. I will be living a different life in a different world.

“Of course, I will take her senior photos,” I lied.

I lied a lot before leaving my home state. I promised friends and loved ones I would be back in the fall. “I will always be your photographer. I have a wedding booked here in September. We can plan a shoot then.”

It was easy to lie because I believed my lies were truth. I did have a wedding booked. I was married to my obligations. I intended to see them through.

They say life is what happens when you are busy making plans. I believe the life you live is a choice. I’ve been stuck in the pattern of choosing success that keeps me mired in failure. If I choose my photography business, I will fail at life.

“Why can’t you do both? You are so good at photography. I would hate to see you give that up.”

The people I love feed my ego while my bank account shrinks and my soul splits. The people I love don’t want me to stop being the person they know me to be. Amber Garibay is a professional photographer and the founder of A Smile Like Yours Photography. She is not a multimillionaire who founded a media and entertainment company with a rubber chicken.

That girl is crazy in an unbelievable way.