Off The Grid - Thinking About Leaving Social Media Behind

I’ve been on a podcast listening marathon and started listening to the Off the Grid podcast this winter. I found it inadvertently when I was listening to The Baggage Reclaim podcast that I’ve been loyally listening to for years, that took me to another podcast, which then led to this! All of this knowledge, but especially Off the Grid has been exactly what my soul has needed. It’s about leaving social media behind, without losing clients/friends/contacts, and phew it’s hitting home. With the state of the country, all of the natural disasters from climate change, wars and all else that’s going on personally, social media in general has been leaving me feeling SO anxious and empty for a long time now. I left Facebook several years ago and was gone for years but I ended up back on after my dad died in 2023. But I just can’t do it anymore. I want to focus on real-life relationships; both business and personal.

Giving up Facebook wasn’t actually difficult. But Instagram is where I share images and take part in seeing other’s images and is where I spend most of my social media time. Spending hours doom-scrolling on Instagram leaves me feeling depleted beyond belief. But the thought of missing someone’s birth announcement, a friend’s promotion news or engagement announcement leaves me reeling. It’s truly an addiction. But the thought of deleting it from my phone gives me crippling anxiety. The thought of deleting the account all together - just sends me spiraling. But staying keeps me spiraling more! I also don’t want to support anymore of the broligarchy. So for now, my solution is to have extremely limited IG time and this blog and my newsletter will be my main way of sharing images, tips and announcements. My terms, my way. No algorithms or nonsense.

I started a project at the beginning of the year inspired by the Wonder Habit. I see little moments each day that inspire me and take a photo to document it. The author of this original project is a watercolor artist/painter and I am NOT that, despite my attempts! I wanted to do a version of this, but with photography. I’ve never done a 365 project before but so far I’m loving it. My friends used to tell me that one of my “superpowers” was the ability to find beauty and magic anywhere, especially in the mundane. After Dad died, I feel like that died also and I’ve been struggling to find joy and beauty like I used to. This project has helped bring me back to a part of my “old” self, after I thought my entire old self had died also. I’m doing this project with my phone, because I didn’t want to add stress to the project by having to lug out my “real” camera. And usually when I’m inspired by these moments, I’m nowhere near my camera and I wanted to be able to document them spontaneously. Since my phone is never far away (hello, addiction and dopamine seeking…) I thought committing to this project would be more feasible with that. I hope it inspires you to find the beautiful moments in your every day life.

I’m also relishing in the slowness of the winter and soaking up time with my Emmie Lou. The 365 project then inspired me to take a photo of Emmie every day also. (Not that I don’t have at least 100 images from her each day anyway!!) My goose is 18.5 and NOW is the year I decide to document her daily life. I think I’m realizing that I don’t have much time left with her and I’m trying to soak as much in as possible, and document all of the silly things she does. She mostly just sleeps a lot now, but I’ve been able to catch some of her spunky moments :) Here are a few snippets from my winter so far.

If you’re here with me, and read this far, thank you for being here! I’ll be sharing more professional and personal work soon. I hope you’re taking some time to slow down and appreciate the world and all of its wonder this winter, even when it feels impossibly dark. I appreciate you. Sending lots of love, light and wonder.

Things I’ve Done to Slow Down

• Watched as many sunrises and sunsets as possible

• Rented a book from the library

• Snuggles every day with Emmie Lou

• Made Fire Cider

• Took a bath. Once is all I need. I’m so not a bath person.

• Met a friend for dinner on a freezing cold night

• Started meal-prepping again: made an incredible chicken artichoke dinner, a great curry, a delicious frozen raspberry yogurt treat, made the most amazing pea soup, a delicious cookie bark, key lime chia pudding and a ton of breakfast egg muffins. Yum!

• Walked long walks almost every day this winter. Even when the real-feel is -20!

• Devoured podcast after podcast, sometimes on my walks

• Mini-walks with Lou; she can’t walk far anymore. But sometimes I’ll bring her in her stroller if it’s not extremely cold.

• Made beeswax wraps with some of my dad’s old shirts

• Homemade iced lattes at home with my new espresso machine

• Started a nightly gratitude journal

• The Wonder/365 Project, of course

• Watched the snow (finally) fall for days, while curled up under a blanket near the fireplace

• Shoveled said snow! Used the snowblower on the heaviest day and pretended my Dad wasn’t laughing at, from the afterlife, the way I cleared the driveway since this was his area of expertise.

Darling Tween and Kiddo Photo Session at The Painted Crate {Columbus, WI}

I was back in Wisconsin visiting family this past spring when my sister & mom took me into the most adorable little shop in Columbus. Cindy Klein, of The Painted Crate, has the most beautiful space inside an old car repair shop that she transformed into a charismatic little retail experience. It’s full of local handmade soaps & balms, small batch candles, fun gifts, jewelry, vintage charm, furniture paint and so much more. AND it’s gorgeous! From the second I walked into this space, I knew I had to come back and take some photos. Cindy has the cutest vignettes all around her store and she takes such care into making this space look so warm and welcoming. If you’re ever passing through Columbus, you must check it out!

I have 5 nieces (aka my own little personal models!) and they’re all as beautiful outside as inside, and I take their photos annually, and I love them… commence run-on sentence because that’s what I do when I’m excited about something! I had to take their photos here, and I’m delighted we did! They’re all growing up so quickly and emerging into these amazing little humans, and they’re at fun ages where they’re willing to pose for photos. The oldest is 11 (going on 21!) and I’ve been in her face, literally, since the day she was born! People tell me that she looks just like I did at that age, and while I do see a resemblance, I also can’t help but feel flattered because this girl is stunning! At her age, I felt awkward, lonely and anything but beautiful so I hope that these photos will show my favorite ladies how bright their inner and outer lights are & that they can make a difference in this often-bleak world. I don’t have my own children (by choice) and these ladies are the closest I have to influencing a generation. I hope I can teach them to see the world with open minds, thoughtful curiosity about others in this world, especially those who are different from them & above all - kindness. It’s what we all need right now.

In truth and full disclosure, I’ve been struggling this year. I thought I had found my purpose with photography and documenting people’s joy, moments and lives. But after 12+ years it’s begun to feel like it’s not enough. Don’t get me wrong, I do love taking beautiful photos of beautiful moments, but it feels like I need to do more. Like I was meant to do more to improve this place we live in. Our world is rapidly deteriorating around us and I’ve personally taken an intense interest in preserving what’s left of it. I consider myself a fierce climate and animal activist (among activism for women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, lgbtq rights & gun laws) and is something I’m most passionate about. I’m trying to figure out how I can incorporate that activism into my business. My business that documents pretty things, but which also contributes to consumerism & a carbon footprint that I don’t love. I’m trying to live without so much “stuff” which often feels like it’s weighing me down. But some of that “stuff” includes photos of all of the memories I want to preserve and remember/display. Because I firmly believe that images should not just be digital form. The balance, and the thought that I’m contributing to this materialistic world with what I do, is something I struggle with daily. I’m not quitting or going anywhere, just feeling a bunch of feelings about it & writing things down is how I process and figure things out. Thank you for giving me the space to lay it all out there.

xoxo,

Courtney

Personal - Home Update!

Welcome to my home! I closed on my condo almost exactly one year ago and I’m just now finally getting around to taking photos of it. It’s kept me a little busy and I had a bunch of projects I wanted to complete before my new baby made its internet debut! I’ve included the before pics from when my little condo was empty, and now that I’m in and have photographed, I feel like I have SOOOO much stuff in this tiny little space! However, I am running a business from here so have many extra things from that, and my place has NO storage. Because of that, one of the projects I wanted to tackle was building a cabinet to go in the kitchen where there was wasted space before. Luckily I have the most handy parents in the world who helped me paint every square inch of this place, spruce up the floors, install ceiling fans, put in a live-edge wood dining nook AND build a cabinet I designed. I was so tired of having my garbage & recycling bins exposed and all I wanted was a pull-out drawer that they could be hidden in, with a counter on top with a shelf above. It freed up counter space in my kitchen and I’m in LOVE! They also built the butcher block island you’ll see below & mom painted my kitchen cabinets and we put in a temporary backsplash. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without my mom and dad & I am eternally grateful. Especially because I learned that I did not inherit my mom’s love of painting. I despised every second of it but I love my little home! There are still some things I’ll change after seeing these photos but I deep-cleaned today and it was photo-ready so I went with it! I’m only showing the kitchen and living area because the bedrooms are still a work in progress and the bathroom overwhelms me; I want to change everything about it & the cabinet still has several paint swatch strokes from a year ago! (If you’ve visited, you’ve seen it!) When I purchased, I had planned on using my second bedroom as an office & small studio space but after a few trial runs with newborns in the “studio” this winter I decided it just isn’t going to work logistically for new moms. I mourned that loss hard but have now decided to turn it into a guest bedroom/office so I’ll show more photos when it’s done. Likely another year from now ;)