I've been struggling with Hive a bit lately. Not that I have anything wrong with it, but more that I've been struggling to find the time and subjects to write about. Whenever I do these photography posts they tend to be a bit reflective on the day and its events, though with the cold weather they all feel a bit too familiar. Not a whole lot going on within them. Short walks within the cold. No major adventures as the roads and pathways remain dangerous with ice. Nothing particularly exciting is taking place. And I feel that there's only so many posts I can throw out before they all just sound the same. With the same type of images. Same tone. And I don't really like that. I do want the images to feel unique, to be challenging me and seeming like they're not all too similar to yesterday's. And when yesterday's images look like today's, I just don't feel like sharing them that much.
I think it's a good and healthier approach to both Hive and photography. Especially in this era where social media algorithms have us feeling as if we must post daily and that missing out is the worst thing imaginable. But I just don't care for that. And Hive? I feel I have a healthier connection with it these days, where I can drop it for a few days, where I can avoid posting but instead take the role of a reader and consumer instead. Though I do miss the days where I could walk around aimlessly and search for something new. Where the days didn't end so early due to the lack of daylight. I miss the days in which I could walk and walk and stumble across all kinds of history and inspirational things. With so many stories to tell. This has even made me want to pick up reading again, where the photography has somewhat been put aside because, while the want is there to take images, I am just a bit bored of taking the same things. And I still want to immerse myself within stories of the world.
I think long winters tend to make us look elsewhere for some joy. Where the usual routines outdoors may not suit us because they just don't work like they usually do. Sometimes being out there in minus temperatures is more damaging to your health physically and mentally than not being out there and having that interest remain. But in a way that's a blessing as it does encourage us to try new things in order to find something else to fill that void. These long winters can lead to some growth and perhaps even new hobbies if we experiment enough. I spent the day running around Yerevan searching for a specific type of book that I wanted to read, I didn't find it in the end, but that excitement to read again, and on a subject I haven't spent much time in, it made me feel like I had finally managed to wake up from a relatively long slumber where all my previous interests had been resting. Where the photography had taken over all else.
I do feel like I'm ready for the spring, and I do think that I'll be going into it a bit more balanced. More understanding of what I want to do and how to approach having interests in things beyond photography. Where it doesn't entirely devour me. The camera still goes everywhere with me, of course. But sometimes, when things do feel like they're all too similar, it's alright to slow down, take a step back, and find something else.
