Today is four years to the day I had the nerve to set up a little page for my shitty little photos. That page turned out to be Picture This! Dublin. Little did I know how my life would change...
Tens of thousands of followers later, it is easy to see why I'm happy today. It is easy to see why I am more driven than ever to achieve things I never thought I had a shot at. It's not easy however to see the things that got me to this point.
At my lowest, deepest and darkest point, I found myself making a list of things that made me happy; I did that in the search of something that could drive me, something to keep my mind ticking. The list was short and had a single thing on it; writing.
That is how tweetymonkey was born. I wrote and wrote and wrote. I got lost in worlds of my own imagination and immersed myself in a new way of thinking. My list of a single item grew into a long list of a multitude of things that keeps growing every day. From my loves of photography and art to new things and people that inspire me daily.
The last four years have seen me grow exponentially as a person from who I used to be as I have made new and strengthened old relationships while making lifelong friends that I know will be with me when I need them and vice versa. The awards have come in and keep coming in, but most importantly, my list keeps getting longer.
The things that make me happy, the things that make you happy are not who you are but dictate how you are and importantly, who you can be and they are things that are already inside you and need to be held tight.
I am sat here four years from the day since I uploaded the first of many terrible photographs writing about why I got to that point and consequently this point as a friend of mine struggles with the issues I did; as much as I understand what she is going through, it is impossible to really comprehend. All I can do is be there for her, not because the next four years could define her but because right now, she defines her.
I am Timi