My mission with this blog is to share with you all of God’s great glory through my camera lens. Hopefully my pictures will inspire you to explore the world around you.Â
For so long I was afraid to pursue my creative dreams.  I never thought myself as the creative type.  I was also afraid that no one would like my photos. However, photography give me sense of peace and bring me so much joy. I am here to tell you not listen to those lies you tell yourself. That is Fear talking. Fear is a liar. Don’t listen to Fear.  Follow your dreams, whatever they may be.Â
You are probably wondering how and why I chose the name for my blog. Well, I have always liked the saying Live, Love & Laugh. These are 3 very important words to remember and to follow. However being a very spirtual person, I felt I could improve on that saying. I changed the last word from laugh to shine. Live, Love & Shine! I like shine because you can’t say it without smiling. Also when I hear the word shine I think of light and when I think of light, I think of God. My favorite quote is from C.S. Lewis, “Don’t shine so others can see you, shine so that through you others can see Him.” This quote sums up my mission in life and with this blog. So I hope you enjoy my blog about my journey of capturing all of God’s great glory with my carmera. Hopefully you will find my stories inspiring, motivating and relatable. The stories will be about living life to fullest, loving unconditionally, and shining so others can see God.. And remember life is short, so shine on!
Originally this blog was going to be a health and wellness blog. A few years ago I lost about 30 pounds. A lot of different people helped me lose the weight. After I lost the weight and kept it off for awhile, I wanted to give back somehow to all those that helped me lose the weight. At that time my youngest was going into Kindergarten and I also needed a part time job. I searched the internet for part time jobs that would allow me to have a flexible schedule. Every time I did a search, personal trainer would come up in the search. I felt this was God telling me to go for it. This is what he wanted me to do to help my family out financially and the way to give back to those that helped me. It was the perfect fit. Personal training was my passion for a very long time. I loved what I was doing. I was helping people lose weight just like so many helped me lose weight. Then ever so slowly, my passion changed.
Occasionally I would get the nagging sensation that my time as a personal trainer was coming to end. But how could that be possible? It was the perfect fit, right?!? The nagging sensation started out as a whisper that I could just ignore and push aside. Eventually for a couple different and various reasons I did give up personal training to focus on my other jobs at the local YMCA and my family. But I still felt the health and wellness field was still my calling. It had to be. I was still a group exercise instructor and I was still working in other positions at the local YMCA. Things were good. My work was steady and regular and the family was good. I decided to start a health and wellness blog to add to and enhance my health and wellness career. I got it up and running. I had a couple posts already written. I put my blood sweat and tears into the blog. I couldn’t be prouder of it. However I didn’t have any followers, except my mom. Then as life would have it, I got busy and my blog got pushed aside. But at least I got my blog up and running and at the moment I felt I accomplished my goal.
But then I heard that whisper, the tugging at my heart was there still. But why?!? I did my best to ignore it again. I didn’t understand it and change is scary. Then a couple life events occurred that got me thinking about my dreams. The whisper was getting louder but I still didn’t understand it. God was calling me to do something, but what I couldn’t figure it out. Due to some other events my passion for health and wellness was feigning and changing once again. I also needed more balance in my life. I spent a lot of time focused on health and wellness and not enough time on my family and friends. and other hobbies. I needed to shift that balance. I know I needed to focus more on my family. I know something had to give but I didn’t know what, just yet.
Then recently I lost a very dear friend to cancer. She was so full of life and such an inspiration to me. She loved and lived life the fullest. The one thing she did, that I was so envious of, she followed her dreams and accomplished them. I didn’t even know what my dreams were. The whisper was getting louder and tugging at my heart was getting harder. But I still didn’t know what God was calling to do. I decided to take a break from social media to pray, refocus and figure out if I had any dreams and if I did what were they.
Every time I would take a moment to think and pray I would think about three things. My blog, yoga and photorgraphy.  But my blog was a health and welllness blog Why was my blog in my thoughts?!? Even though mine and my family’s health and pe wellness was important to me and a big part of my life, I didn’t want health and wellness to be everything in my life. I still wanted to write the blog but it needed to be a different type of blog. A type of blog that best suited me and how and what I wanted share with everyone.
This blog is now going to my personal blog. I will be sharing lessons and stories from my photography and yoga adventures. I am very passionate about photography and yoga. I hope to have my own studio one day, where I can I have yoga classes and showcase my photography. I am really excited about this new path I am taking with this blog. I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it.
Don’t forget to live every moment to the fullest, love unconditionally, and shine so others can see God.
Live, Love, & Shine With Shannon 