When you’ve had the itch to share your creativity with the world, have you ever found yourself saying: “If I just had more…”?

More time… more money… more followers… more experience, more resources, more childcare, more ideas, more gear, more support, more affirmation. ET CETERA… Then, thennn, I would create. (Fill in create with whatever outlet that is for you. Writing, blogging, photography, content creation, social media, Youtube videos, painting, whatever.)

Well I’m here to tell ya - as long are you are waiting for more, you will always be missing out.

I write this with so much compassion for both you and myself. All of these “creative pep talk” blogs I write are a note to self of sorts as I am currently embarking on a major creative journey. One that is stretching me to explore the freedom & permission we have been granted by God to CREATE. And on today’s journey, I am being challenged in my mindset of creative abundance vs. scarcity.

I am currently reading & feeling SO encouraged by a book called Create Anyways by Ashlee Gadd. I would love to buy you this book. Seriously, just send me an email. And as I read about the idea of creative scarcity in Chapter 6, I felt so convicted.

I have absolutely bought into the idea of creative scarcity - and it ties so heavily together with perfectionism. This idea that if I just had a little more time, confidence, resources… that only then would I be able to create the type of work I could feel proud of and put out into the world.

But my problem isn’t a lack of x, y, or z. The problem is in my heart. If I trust that God has given me the exact measure I am meant to have, that He has given me a unique set of giftings, circumstances, opportunities, resources, and raw materials. That He has doled out my portion, that He is good, that He is sovereign. Then all I need to be concerned with, is being a good steward of what He has given me - right here, right now. “Whoever is faithful with little, will be faithful with much…”

From the very beginning of time, in the Garden of Eden, the enemy used scarcity as a tool of deception to lead us away from God’s best for us. In Genesis Chapter 3 he says, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” “You will not certainly die… For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

And I fall for this same trick when I believe these lies: I have nothing good to offer. Anything I could create is already being done by somebody else, but better. No one would benefit from what I have to say/create. I am so unoriginal, so why even try? There’s not enough room for all of us in this space. My creative gifts won’t have any impact. My creativity is a waste of time. Creativity is frivolous.

The rebuttal to these lies is not some fluffy, cheesy Pinterest quote: I am special! I am awesome! But the rebuttal is found in a trust that God has given me the portion He has chosen to give me and it is my honor to steward it well for His glory. Regardless of how it is received, regardless of its reach, regardless of the accolades or approval it may or my not acquire.

I have all that I need because I have the Creator God within me. And when I’m motivated by bringing Him glory instead of my own self-assurance or applause or popularity, I have freedom to do my best in obedience to Him and let go of the shackles of perfectionism. To take a leap of faith, to put myself out there, to share my creativity with others. Knowing that I’ll be very much okay, no matter how well it “performs” or how well it is received by others, because I am loved by Him.

When we choose to trust in the abundance of God, that He has given us all that we need and more to be faithful, even and specifically in the creative space, we have freedom to share our creativity with others. We have the freedom to be vulnerable as we share what we make. We have the freedom to give generously, even if it feels like we don’t have a lot to give.

Our God is a Creator God. He is a God of abundance. And He makes no mistakes! Here is to hoping I can create boldly and confidently, while resting in these truths. And here’s to hoping you can, too. xo, Suzy

I turned 33 last week - 33! I used to think this age sounded old? How wrong was I because I currently feel like quite a young whipper snapper. 😉 I remember my mom told me once that she still feels the same on the inside, now at age 70, as she did when she was in her 20’s. I try to remember that when I see older adults out and about. Their body may tell a story of a long life, yes, but they are still as vibrant on the inside as ever. And even more so, because of the rich experiences they have journeyed through. Because of the stories they have to tell! So when you younger readers read this, don’t pity me… I am spirited as ever (on the inside)!!!

I always get reflective on my birthday. Is this where I thought I’d be at age… 33? If I could go back and sit down at a coffee shop with my younger self, what would I tell her? Well, here are a few of those things.

There’s always time for what’s MOST important.

There isn’t time for everything. But there is time for what’s most important. As a solo-preneur & mom of young kids, I very often have a scarcity mindset when it comes to time. And it is SO precious! But a comforting truth that calms my busy mind is that there will always be time for what is most important. Now the hard work is determining what that is... but when I can figure that out, I can loosen our grip on the other things.

Perfectionism is robbing EVERYTHING from you.

Not trying to be dramatic - but I meant what I said. Perfectionism is ONLY holding you back. Perfection is a myth. Let that $#!% go. When you let go of perfectionism and people pleasing, you’ll be able to step into your fuller potential. You’ll fail. And you’ll even fail publicly. But you’ll learn. And you’ll get better. And you’ll be glad you did.

WHO CARES!!!

I had to throw in my phrase for the year, duh. Worrying about what other think, similar to perfectionism, is only holding you back. Try. Fail. Try again. Learn. Be yourself. Literally, who cares!!!

Find friends you can be HONEST with.

Letting go of seeking others approval will take time & practice. Good friends are a great place to work on this. If you can find loving friends, who are open to honest dialogue & even disagreement, you have struck gold. If you can’t be honest with them, how will you ever step confidently into other spaces as you are? Honestly & vulnerability will make your life & relationships so much more rich. Pursue this passionately.

Exercise is a GOOD use of your time.

It is not inefficient. It is not unproductive. It is good stewardship. Do it while you can. Your health, outside of your family & friends, is your greatest blessing earth side. Find something you enjoy doing to move your body & get to it!

Dress up when you get the chance!

TBH, as a mom of now 4 children, business owner, and fitness-lover, you don’t have many opportunities to dress up. Let’s be real! So whenever you get a chance, DO IT! Who cares if you’re “over-dressed" or if people think you’re “too much.” They probably aren’t even thinking about you period and if they are BOOOO them. Have fun, dress up!!! P.S. younger self, one day you’re gonna save up any buy a Celia B sparkly rainbow dress that you’ll wear on repeat when you have the chance, get excited bebe.

Read your BIBLE every day.

Whether you ~feel~ like it or not. ONLY good will spring from this. For you, your family, your friends, & the community around you. There are few better things you could be doing. Get a Bible reading plan, like The Bible Recap and just start.

What would you tell your younger self? Drop it in the comments. xo, Suzy

You might enjoy some of these unsolicited thoughts, too!

As if taking time to do something creative for fun was too… frivolous? Unnecessary? Maybe even… selfish?

I know I have. My gosh. This has been a pitfall of mine for the last 8 years since becoming a mom. I don’t know if it has been due to my personality or my propensity to be productive at all costs or my life circumstances that shaped this belief, but along the way I started to believe that if the thing I was creating didn’t make money, get a big applause, or get enough likes, comments, views, affirmation, etc., that it was a waste of my time. That it was wrong to spend my time or effort on it. Maybe you can relate? And if you can’t, YAY. Us dreary, guilt-driven people need people like you to remind us that there is a better, more free way!

That’s actually what this blog is about. If you need a renewed perspective on why your creativity is a GOOD thing. That it is time well-spent. That it can be a beautiful, loving, wonderful way to spend your time - keep reading.

Create Anyway

I just started a book called Create Anyway by Ashlee Gadd. My friend Noelle dropped it off to me a few weeks ago and I am so so so thankful that she did because after just the Intro and Chapter 1 alone, my spirits have been lifted! The book title alone was an affirmation I needed deeply. Here are 3 a-ha moments I had while reading that have encouraged me in my creative endeavors and I hope will encourage you, too!

1. Creativity is in our DNA.

I believe in a Creator God. A God who made the whole entire world & all that is in it. Who finished each part of creation with the benediction “It is good," and at the end of it all, “It is very good.” A God who made me. And I believe I was made in His image. Made to reflect a glimpse of Him to the world. So quite literally, the desire and ability to create is in my DNA. It is hereditary.

And with this in mind, I believe He made us all differently. With different gifts and abilities and perspectives. So we each have something unique and wonderful to offer one another in our creativity. Using our creative gifts is one of the many ways we can be good stewards of what God has given us. He gave us raw materials & curious minds & imaginations & physical abilities to be able to take different things and make something new to share.

2. You don’t need permission.

Who the heck are we waiting to get permission from to create? We don’t need a sign off from some figurative boss. We don’t need a degree in “creativity.” We don’t need a certain number of followers or subscribers. We don’t need to master our craft first. We don’t need to be perfect! We can be creative right now, right where we are, with the materials & gifts we have at hand.

In my experience, the person I was lacking permission from was M E. And after exploring the thought that God blesses and encourages creativity, the next and only thing in my way was me. Why was I holding myself back? Out of fear of failure or others’ opinions? Out of false guilt that creating is too frivolous a use of time? UGH. Get behind me Satan.

In her book Create Anyway, Ashlee offers a creative exercise at the end of Chapter 1 to write ourselves permission slips. Here were a few of mine.

• You can wear glitter just because!

• You can write an honest blog.

• You can use nap time to create instead of fold laundry sometimes.

• You can make a video that you hope will make people laugh.

• You can share something that isn’t perfect.

• You can change your mind.

• You can create in front of your kids.

3. Creativity is not at odds with motherhood.

Ohhh, but how many times I have felt this over the last 8 years! How many times have I told my husband, one day when the kids are older, I will finally x…y…z… And I’d be lying if I said that having kids doesn’t change things. Of course, it does! Time is no longer your own and you have to take a lot more people into consideration with how you spend your time. BUT. Being a mom doesn’t mean that we, or I, have to put our creativity on hold!

Creating in front of our kids is such a wonderful thing to model for them. We don’t need to completely compartmentalize our creative efforts. (Though sometimes I do need silence to form a coherent sentence for a blog like this, ha.) But if there are ways that I can exercise my creativity in front of them, that is actually such a wonderful thing because it is teaching them that it is good and right to steward the creative gifts God has given us! Whether that be through writing or cooking or gardening or photography or WHATEVER. It is good to teach them that it doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. That it doesn’t need the applause or approval of everyone to be worthwhile.

And besides, we have a lot we could learn from our children. They need no permission to create. They just do! They just take what’s in front of them and get going. They let their imaginations run wild! I should take a page from their book! They are so free. And that’s where I have a lot of room to grow.

Creativity makes us brave.

I’ll finish with this beautiful quote from the intro of Ashlee’s book,

“Both motherhood and creativity have taught me to be brave, to relentlessly seek beauty and joy among the mudnane, to notice the remarkable grace flooding my unremarkable life.”

Your creativity is not frivolous. It is a way you can breathe life into the family, community, and spaces God has placed you. How might it be a conduit of love and service to others? It just might bring light to a world that feels dark. Even if it’s not profitable, or perfect, or applauded, I hope you’ll create anyway and share it with others. To not do so, is to leave a lovely gift to this world unwrapped.

To creating anyway, even in the margins of motherhood, Suzy

I had the privilege of taking these maternity portraits for my good friend Laura in the studio as she’s expecting another baby to join their family very soon! Isn’t she stunning? The fitted dress was perfect for showing off her sweet baby bump & I love the overall neutral minimalist aesthetic of these glowing photographs of her.

A little note to expecting moms: When your body is changing during pregnancy, sometimes you may love & appreciate that & sometimes you may feel neutral about it at best… which is okay! It’s a lot to process these big changes as they happen so quickly. But you & your body are doing an incredible thing as they carry & nurture & grow this child inside. And you really are more beautiful than you realize. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to mirror that back for you to see & help you celebrate. So can I encourage you? Book the maternity photos. You won’t regret it. You really are, glowing. 🌞

Know an expecting mama to be? Maternity sessions make the most incredible gift.

Other Beautiful Maternity Sessions by Suzy

Yeah, you read that right.

On Christmas Eve, I posted a short and silly video of our family creating our annual Collins Christmas card. To my surprise, when I woke up the next morning, the reel was poppin’ off with comments and re-shares. As I write this blog, it currently has 8 million views. Whattt?! You can watch the video on my instagram, here. Allow me to give some context for why we had lettuce on our heads.

Every year for over a decade, my husband’s family has been making “atypical” Christmas cards and sending them in the mail to a short list of family & friends. I have had the ~pleasure~ of being included in these holiday cards since we were engaged back in 2014. Throughout the year, the whole family spitballs ideas until one sticks and then as the holidays roll around, we get full family participation and execute the idea. The themes are all over the place - from “dreaming of a white trash Christmas” to “the family that bathes together, stays together” to this year’s theme “O Come Lettuce Adore Him.” You can peruse some of our past year’s cards on this Instagram post to see just how unhinged we have gotten. Why do we do this? For the sheer heck and fun of it! To spread a little Christmas cheer, to make people laugh, and to make a funny memory together as a family. My husband’s family, I realize now more than ever, is truly so one-of-a-kind in this regard. They will go to great lengths just to have a little fun together.

To be honest, when I noticed the video getting a lot of traction online, I felt a sort of panic at first. I had no idea it would take off and having that many eyes on it made me feel a little squirmy. As I saw thousands of people leaving comments, I was nervous to even peek at what people were saying. I know the internet can be a place for a lot of hatred and people often leave nasty comments as they scroll with little repercussion. But as I started to read what people were saying, the comments actually pleasantly surprised me and even, in a way, renewed my hope in humanity.

Here are 3 things I learned about humankind from the comments left on our video:

1. AI Can’t Replace Real Human Creativity

One of the most heart-warming comments I saw repeated over and over from viewers went something like this:

“You could have used AI to create this photo, but y’all literally put lettuce on your dang heads and did it yourself. Respect.”

It hit me. In a world where we can create almost anything we want using AI, people still want and crave something REAL. As ridiculous as our Christmas card was, people seemed to appreciate the real effort and participation it took to create it. The fact that everyone bought in, as crazy as it was, and did something real together was relieving for people to experience.

2. Family Is A Gift

It’s no longer a secret that our family is goofyyy, baby. The amount of people that said, “I love whatever is wrong with you.” confirms that. But as much as there were comments laughing AT us, most of those comments were also laughing WITH us and seemed to celebrate the fact that even if it’s weird and silly and goofy, nothing is better than family and if you have a family you can laugh with, you’re truly RICH. So many comments were just encouraging how wonderful it is to see a family spending time, laughing, and going the extra mile to make a fun memory with each other.

Personally, it made me realize how blessed I am in family. Few things matter more in this life on earth. The hilarious comments asking if there was a single brother they could marry or a way they could be adopted in made me realize how good I have it. When the time comes each year to make these silly Christmas cards, we all take turns rolling our eyes at how ridiculous it is. But at the end of the day, we all do it and we do it together. What a gift that I have a family to do this with, AS LITERALLY BAT $h!T crazy as it is!

3. Life Isn’t *Always* So Serious

One more theme of comments that pleasantly surprised me was how many people seemed to get a genuine laugh out of our family shenanigans. The majority of the comments overall were crying laughing emojis, hahahahas, and sentiments of “I just choked on my spit,” “I can’t breathe,” and “I’m dead.” I think some pessimistic part of me deep inside was just caught off guard that people would simply laugh and find joy out of something so ridiculous.

If you have a personality type like mine, sometimes you can use a good dose of levity in your life. (Hence why my phrase for the year is “who cares!!!” Trying to lean into that...) Life is and always will be hard, no way around it. So any chance we have to just laugh out loud is a wonderful thing. Laughter really is the best medicine. The more we can laugh & the more we can make others laugh is time well spent in this life.  

So there you have it, 3 encouraging reasons to keep hope in humanity! There are a lot of trolls & haters out there in the world, but there are a lot of wonderful people, too. People who value authenticity, connection, & laughter. If losing my dignity on the internet was what it took to remind me (and you) of this today, I think it was well worth it. 

Cheers to keepin’ it real & laughing with the people you love this year! xo, Suzy

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If you didn’t get to watch the reel yet - enjoy!

If you resonated with any of this blog, you might enjoy some of these other musings, too!

There is almost nothing I love more than sunshine. It comes from deep within my Florida roots and it is just everything to me! So when I am photographing a family outdoors in Knoxville on a sunny day just before sunset and that light is pouring in through the trees while the sweet family is all smiles - ugh!!! Makes my heart soar. I absolutely loved my time with this precious family - we’ve now had 5 sessions together from maternity portraits to all of baby girl’s milestones along the way. What a joy and a privilege! Hope you enjoy this darling family drenched in sunlight.

Ready to book your family photos?

Want to see more family sessions?

You might just want to make this your word(s) for the year, too. Drum roll, please… In 2026, the phrase that’s going to carry me through is:

WHO CARES!!!

Yes, you read that right. Who cares!!! ~Who~ even ~cares~!!!

If you’re someone who tries to read the room before speaking your mind. If you’re someone who tries to determine how likely you are to succeed before trying something new. If you’re someone who says, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right...” If you’re someone who lets the fear of others’ opinions & approval dictate how you live your life… If you’re afraid of screwing it up. If you’re worried you might change your mind or it might not work out or you might fail…

Then you can steal my phrase. Because I am that person mentioned above sometimes, too. It takes intentional effort to lean awayyy from those perfectionistic tendencies. To stretch that “send it” (my phrase from last year) muscle. To let go and let God and truly live this precious life to the fullest without those shackles of fear!

I do actually care…

I’m someone who cares deeply. And that’s not going to change. But what I hope will continue to shift, is how much I care what other people think. How much I care if I try something new and fall flat on my face. How much I care if I look silly, or fail, or make a mistake.

The truth that carries me through is that the sole approval I should ever be seeking is that of my God, my Savior, my Creator. His opinion is my North Star. He has given me His Word and has blessed me with genuine family & friends who care about me, to speak into my life and share truth. As long as I am aiming to please Him, I can let go of the rest.

And I believe there is so much freedom in letting go! There is no way to win the approval of everyone and living life that way is like running on a hamster wheel. God has given me my own race to run, for His glory, and the rest - WHO CARES!! 

Here’s to 2026. To caring about what really matters. And not worrying our lil ol’ hearts about the rest.

Hoping the same freedom for you!

Sincerely, Suzy

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A post shared by Suzy | Knoxville Family Photographer (@suzycollinsco)

If you too are a recovering perfectionist, you might like some of these blogs, too!

This newborn family photo session at my studio here in Knoxville was exactly what these photos feel like - calm, happy, and bright! I love how the warm neutral outfits photographed together in the minimally styled setting of the studio. Sometimes, less is more when it comes to professional photo sessions. When you strip away the distraction and clutter, it allows the focus to remain on the people & the connection. And that’s the whole point of having your family photos taken isn’t it? I hope you enjoy these happy newborn snuggles as much I did!

Little one on the way?

It’s easy to “lose ourselves” in motherhood.

I think it’s natural, in a way. When you bring home your first baby who needs to be fed, and changed, and rocked to sleep quite literally around the clock, you can hardly make plans for the weekend, let alone pick up a new hobby or even find time for your old ones. And if you’re a new mom, or in the newborn stage once again, let me offer you some hope - it will not always be this all-consuming. In the early weeks, it is. There’s no way around it. And really, when I look back at those days, there were a truly sacred, wonderful time. The needs of my baby, though persistent and unrelenting, were simple. I was all that they needed. Dare I say that I miss those sleepless nights and tired days? But, if you’re in the thick of it right now, let me tell you - you WILL have more freedom and time back again. You will get your spark back! Be patient with the process. You are doing wonderful, holy work caring for your little one. The journey to figuring out what else makes you YOU outside of your motherhood is a weird, winding one - but it’s a pretty cool adventure, too.

Ever since becoming a mom 8-ish years ago, I have struggled with finding a hobby I enjoy. With making time for anything outside of momming or working, really. I felt like I couldn’t take time away from my kids unless it was something that was benefitting our family financially. Maybe you can relate? And in my experience, though this is a generalization, I’ve found that us moms seem to struggle with this guilt more than most dads do. In my own life, my husband has had no problem going duck hunting, training for a half marathon with his friends, or going away on bachelor weekends, yet I have felt so uncomfortable asking permission to do anything outside of running my business or taking care of my children. Even with my husband’s support and blessing to do other things, the hardest part has been giving myself the permission to do so.

A Thin Space

I think somewhere between the world’s narcissistic, self-absorbed way of life and the lifestyle of a mom who martyrs everything about herself in the name of motherhood, is a thin space where we can be both joyful, devoted mothers and unique women with our own individual interests. We have to adjust our mindset that self-care is not inherently selfish. When we take care of ourselves, we are able to show up that much more joyfully present for the ones we love most, too. And, when we make time for the things that make us come alive, we’re modeling something beautiful for our children. We’re showing them that God made us each uniquely with different interests & skills, that there is joy in exploring those, and that it’s okay to try something new and not be good at it right away! Really, the life lessons are endless, and our children learn them best by watching what we do.

Finding my Hobby

Giving myself permission to have a hobby I enjoy this year, sort of went hand in hand with giving myself permission to start exercising again. (I wrote more about that on this blog, here.) While building back the habit of exercise after being stuck in a long workout rut, I fell in love with it again. I loved the community aspect of doing something hard with other women, I loved the mental clarity & endorphins I felt afterwards, I loved seeing my body get stronger, and I loved working at new skills in the gym, as arbitrary as they may have been! I mean who cares if I can do a handstand push up or a bar muscle up out in the real world? Nobody. But it’s fun to try to do something new! So while exercise is something that I believe is an important value to make time for in life no matter what, I realized that it was something I really enjoyed doing and would be a worthwhile “hobby,” too!

Something to Look Forward To

I think a crucial piece of finding a hobby that we love is finding a way to weave a specific event into it to look forward to. So while I love going to my local gym several days a week with my friends that I’ve made there, I wanted something more distinct to look forward to from the day to day. That led me to signing up for my first local CrossFit competition. The event was held in-house at our local gym and I signed up on a team with a few of my friends from the gym. The point of me signing up wasn’t to win. The point was to get something on the calendar to look forward, with people I enjoy being with! The point was to challenge myself and push myself outside of my comfort zone. And it really did accomplish all of that! As someone who grew up playing sports my whole childhood, it took my back to those long tournament days in the gym with my teammates, playing back-to-back games and hanging out in between. Those are actually some of my fondest memories. Working hard and playing hard together!

After that competition, it started to click for me. Doing a special fitness event or competition with my friends was the perfect way for me invest into my “hobby” time outside of mom & business life. Not because I’m a professional athlete. Not because I’m a fitness coach or an online fitness influencer. Because it’s fun!!!

Fast forward to the end of 2025, a few friends and I decided to sign up for our first Hyrox race. As I write this, we’re about a month out from the event and it has been so fun to have something specific to train for and something to train for together! Through our time spent training, I’ve gotten stronger and faster than before and I’ve gotten to know the girls I’m racing with better as we’ve logged hours of runs and workouts together.

Hidden Hobbies in the Mundane

For a long time, if anyone asked me about my hobbies or what I liked to do for fun, I felt a twinge of sadness and shame. I couldn’t think of anything to say outside of, I like having uninterrupted conversations and eating hot food with my friends? (Something all of us moms crave, right?!) If anyone asked, I couldn’t think of anything to say because my life felt full to the brim with running my business, raising my kids, and keeping the wreckage of my house to a minimum. Where was there time for a hobby?…

But let me encourage you, if nothing comes to your mind right now when you think about what hobby might interest you, give it a little time. It may be something that has been there all along, hidden in the mundane of your daily life, and you just need to give yourself permission (and space) to enjoy it again.

I’ll share one example from my life that might help unlock one for you - cooking. After becoming a mom, cooking healthy meals had become such a chore to me in the middle of the chaos of my life. It felt hectic and like something to check off my to-do list. But one day I realized, wait, I actually like doing this! I don’t particularly love it at the witching hour with toddlers hanging onto my legs, but prepping food during nap time while the house is quiet, that’s actually kind of fun. Having my husband take the kids outside to play in the evening so I can get really into the dinner recipe, actually, I love that!

Is there something like this in your life? Maybe since having kids you haven’t given yourself the permission, or asked for the space, to enjoy something that has been a passion or gifting all along. Is there a way you could invite that back into your life? Step one is likely giving yourself the permission to do so, but step two might be asking for support from your spouse or a friend to help make it possible! Don’t be afraid to ask for help! It’s never as scary, or as difficult, as we make it out to be in our minds. We have to be willing to be vulnerable and say hey, will you help me? Likely there is someone in your life who would love to say, YES!

Cheering for You

We’re all at different places in our mothering journeys. Hey, I’m 8 years in and I’m just now learning how to have a hobby (and unlearning how to let go of addiction to productivity.) I don’t know where you’re at on yours, but if nothing else, I hope you are encouraged that your individual interests (outside of your children and your work) are worth pursuing! They are part of how God made you YOU and investing time into them will not steal from your motherhood or work, it will likely help you show up even brighter and better in those spaces.

Here’s to hobbies! Here’s to fun!

Cheering for you, Suzy

This maternity photo session at a horse farm right here in Knoxville was an absolute dream! Melanie, mom-to-be, works with these beautiful horses at the farm and wanted to incorporate them into her maternity portraits. How sweet will these be to hang up in baby boy’s room? I’m sure he’ll share a love for these animals just like his parents. Hard to beat a glowing mama in her element on a beautiful evening celebrating a growing life. Hope you enjoy!

Baby on the way?

A few years ago I was in a major rut with exercise. I had previously been a group fitness instructor & loved teaching classes. It was built in accountability, schedule, and a little paycheck. Score! But the gym I worked at stopped offering childcare and it no longer worked with our family schedule. Then after having our third child, I was drowning in work & keeping up the house & chasing after the kids & I fell into the trap of believing that the luxury of working out was something I couldn’t afford. That I couldn’t afford to spend time on exercise it when I felt so behind on everything else… maybe you can relate?

But this was a major LIE.

I couldn’t afford not to.

After a long encouraging conversation with my husband, I started to wake back up to the reality that exercise was something I couldn’t afford NOT to do. For my mental wellbeing, strength, and long term health. And for my family’s, too! A happy, healthy mom leads to a happy, healthy family. The negative consequences I was experiencing from not prioritizing exercise and movement were affecting my family, too. Plus, I wanted to set an example for my children that exercise is crucial to living a long, healthy life.

So I started to believe that exercise was worth making time for, but I needed a way to build the habit back. Below, I’ll share what I did (and have been doing for the past 3 years), why it worked, and how simple it could be for you to start doing, too!

If you want to start building an exercise habit, here are the 4 things you need.

#1 - Accountability

Find ONE friend, or more if you’d like. Ask them if they’d like to commit to helping each other build a habit of moving your bodies.

#2 - Clear Commitment

Once I found a few friends who were interested, I proposed the idea of committing with me to working out for 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The commitment was clear & simple. I wasn’t trying to go from nothing to gym rat in one day. My goal was consistency. Plus, I knew that “exercise” might look different for each of us. For some of us it was walking, others it was running, gym, peloton, hiking, pickleball, tennis, whatever! Our collective goal & commitment was to build a habit of movement. We made it clear by putting a time on it - 15 minutes, 5 days per week.

#3 - Reward or Consequence

With your friends, choose a reward or consequence that you’ll get for following through on the commitment you make together. This is how it worked for our group. We each put $50 on the line. If one of us didn’t get our 5 days of 15 minutes in that week, we lost our $50 and it got split between the rest of the group. Ouch. $50 is enough money to hurt. Especially over a matter of 15 minutes!

Again, our goal was consistency. Yours may be different, but for us it was just committing to doing something for 5 days each week. What we all found was that it wasn’t so much the time commitment that was the difficult part, but just the getting started part. Once you went out on a walk, 15 minutes could easily become 30. Once you got to the gym, you’d likely end up lifting weights for more than just 15 minutes. It was the putting on our tennis shoes and getting started that was the hard part we had to break through.

#4 - F.U.N.

I have found that the easiest way to get exercise to stick on the front end is to pick something you ENJOY doing. After you build the habit and the discipline of it, you can start to layer in elements that feel harder for the health benefit of it, but in the beginning, prioritize fun! This could be what you’re doing or simply who you’re doing it with. Half of the reason I love going to my current gym is because of who I know I’ll get to see when I go! Another easy way to add in a little fun could even come in the form of what you’re wearing! Girls gotta girl, ya know. Wear a cute outfit or here’s one from my playbook, put on some glitter eyeliner! It’s completely unnecessary, but super cute and fun. Life is short so why not, bebe. However you can make your exercise enjoyable when trying to build it as a new habit is worth exploring!

If nothing else, remember this.

It’s worth your time.

Your biggest hurdle, and what was mine, was first believing that exercise was worth my time. That I could press pause on my to-do list and make time to prioritize my health. As soon as you get going, give it just a few weeks, you will start to experience the undeniable benefit and difference it makes for your physical and mental wellbeing.

I quickly realized I couldn’t afford not to work out. The instant improvement in my mental health. The endorphins. Improved strength and energy. The body change. And largely, the investment into my long term health. These were all things I quickly realized I shouldn’t live without. Exercise should be a non-negotiable always. If I don’t have time for some form of exercise in my life, it should be a sign to me that my life is out of balance. How you exercise will look different in different seasons, but it’s always worth making the time for. For both your own benefit and the benefit of those around you!  

My little group chat has been going for 3 years now and it even helped me stay consistent during and after my 4th baby was born! What I’ve done for exercise has evolved with time, but the main focus at the beginning was just to do SOMETHING. At this point, exercise is something I’ve grown to enjoy so much, I would do it even if there wasn’t $50 on the line.

So if you need a little boost to start building the habit, try it out! And hey, if you want to join our group, come on! Would love to have you. Send me an email or shoot me a message on Instagram!

Cheering for you! Suzy

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Here are the 4 things you need to build the habit of exercise (featuring my pull up progress over the last 2 years!)

If this post resonated with you, you might enjoy some of these other personal blogs, too!

Glitter eyeliner - No special occasion needed. Some days this was the only make up that I wore. To the gym, at home with the kids, running errands, on a photoshoot. It’s fun! Who cares!!!

The Bible Recap 365 day reading plan - I used this reading plan to read through the Bible with some friends this year! The recap offers helpful cultural/historical context and a summary after each scripture reading that helped me grow more in my understanding of scripture. I’m planning to do it again this year with the free plan in The Bible app. I also got the kids version to read through the Bible this year with my two oldest girls. I’m so pumped.

Grips for pull-ups - When I started going to the gym again, I got kind obsessed with pull-ups! Strict, kipping, butterfly, bar muscle-ups - I’ve been working on it all. These grips keep me from slipping off the bar when I’m really sending it.

Lillie Eats & Tells healthy meal plans - This woman is a genius?! Her meal plan includes delicious whole food meals that already have the macros figured out for me (they’re even uploaded into My Fitness Pal if you’re a tracking gal) and they include the grocery list which connects straight to my Instacart… AMAZING. This has freed up so much mental space and helped me enjoy cooking healthy meals for my family again! Highly recommend.

Flux athletic shoes - I just ordered my third pair for the third year in a row. I use these for running and weight lighting.. They’re wide toe box, zero drop “barefoot” style running shoes that are super comfortable and not weird-looking.

Function Health labwork - This is the coolest thing ever. We don’t have health insurance so we pay out of pocket for any medical expense. Function bundled all of the most important labs we want to have done on a yearly basis at an affordable price. They upload your results and explanations of what everything means straight to your profile on their app. It’s genius. It’s the future of health and medical autonomy and I am a HUGE fan. Even my friends with health insurance have opted in to use this instead because it gives a more comprehensive view of your health than most labs your physician would order and still at a better price… it’s a no-brainer to me.

Comfy, affordable leggings - I wear these to the gym and just out and about!

Primally Pure skin care & this clothes steamer lol - My face has been clear of acne for the first time in forevs. I could cry. I’m sure it has several factors to do with it, maybe largely to do with my hormones regulating after being pregnant/post partum/breast feeding for the last 8 years? But I owe some of it to my Primally Pure 3-step nightly skin care routine and steaming my face with this clothing steamer. I started doing that on a whim and that was the month my skin cleared up so maybe it was a fluke, but I refuse to stop using it in my nightly routine now. My husband can laugh all her wants.

Pixieset photo galleries - I’ve used Pixieset for over 9 years to share photo galleries with my clients. Pretty aesthetic & easy to use & customize.

My camera & lens - I don’t use anything else. These are my current ride or die.

Some of the links I shared above are affiliate links which means if you use my links and make a purchase I may get a commission or money back on my purchase. Pretty neat.

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Glimpses from 2025

 The tension I often feel in my life is this - how can I be faithful with the work God has given me to do while also honoring rest & margin? To take this life right where I am & make as much of it as I am able, while also resting in God’s love & finding my worth there in the depths of it. I want to be a good steward of the time and the gifts and the opportunities and the blessings He has given me! But I want to move out of a place of rest, not a place of striving.

Here’s a glimpse at what our 2025 looked like:

This year we moved from the home we brought all of our babies home to. Cue the tears. I could have seen us living there the rest of our lives! But when an opportunity arose to fix up a house on the same street as family nearby, we went for it. We renovated a 100-year-old house over several months and finally began our new chapter there this fall. I love the charm of the old house. I love the explosion of daffodils that the previous owner planted every where. I love the chicken coop in the back that we plan to fix up one day. But more than anything, I love that my kids can walk to their cousins’ and grandparents’ house. I love that we live on a street where they can ride their bike and play and have a little more independence. It has been such a blessing.

As I look back, renovating our home was a huge creative outlet for me this year. Though I work in a creative field of photography, I always enjoy having a way to exercise my creativity outside of my job. As I was telling my husband I didn’t feel like I had created much outside of work this past year, he reminded me about the house renovations and a light bulb went off! Duh, that was a huge and new way for me to stretch my creative muscles. Choosing paint colors and tile and stain for the floors, hardware and cabinets, even balusters and newel posts - whew! I loved exploring the world of home renovations and interior design for a season. Sometimes it felt stressful trying to weigh all the options financially, but overall when I look back on the process, it was so much fun.

October of this year, marked two milestones for me in business - 9 years of Suzy Collins Photography and 1 full year since opening my second HighLight Studio location. October tends to be my busiest time of year with photography in general so when reflecting on the year, I realized I didn’t even stop to celebrate these milestones. I regret that because as a small business owner and entrepreneur, I think it’s so important to celebrate our progress along the way. It’s easy to put our head down in the grind and never look up. But stopping to celebrate is a great way to cultivate thankfulness for all that we have and how far we have come! So here’s me doing that for just a moment.

My husband Harrison worked hard & started a new side business, Hark Outdoors, that was born out of his love for hunting. He launched his first product there which is a really beautiful scratch off print that allows you to scratch off the different ducks you’ve harvested. He wanted to create an artistic way for hunters to pay homage to their hunting adventures and have something to hang in their homes/offices. I for one love it because it means that instead of ducks mounted all over our walls, we can have a really cool framed print instead, hehe. I’m super proud of him and excited to see where it takes him in the future!

This year was so much fun with our four kids. They are at really fun ages, currently the girls are 7 & 6 and the boys are 3 & 2. Watching them grow up is both amazing & depressing all at once. I’m sure you other mamas can relate! Our favorite way to spend time together as a family is being outside - hiking, walking, biking, or even just playing in the backyard. It’s always easier to connect when we’re out in nature (and off of our phones.)

In May, Harrison and I celebrated 10 years of marriage - whoa! Time has truly flown. The more time that passes us by, the more thankful I am to be married to my best friend. We’ve got ups and downs, it’s no where close to perfect. But I love doing life side by side and I’m so thankful to have him as my teammate.

This doesn’t cover it all, how could a blog ever do that? But thanks for letting me share a little snapshot of of my work & personal life in 2025 with you.The new year is ahead of us and it’s always my favorite time of year. Time to refresh & reset. Thank you God for 2025, the good and the hard! Help us make much of this life you’ve given us and more importantly, make much of You!  On to 2026.

Happy new year to you & yours! xo, Suzy

Want to read more from my heart?

It’s been over two years since I’ve written a blog. As I type that, I realize this probably goes hand in hand with the fact that my baby boy just turned two years old! Each time we’ve added a baby to the family, it has taken some time to recalibrate and figure out how to best spend my time. Blogging the last couple of years didn’t make the cut. But I’m starting to feel the itch…

As a professional photographer, I obviously work in a creative field. And I absolutely love it! But sometimes when an art form you love becomes your actual paying job, you have to find other outlets for your creativity that are just for the fun of it! That your paycheck doesn’t depend on. Writing feels like that for me.

Are creative outlets a luxury I can afford?

Right now, writing feels sort of similar to how I felt about exercising a few years ago. I was in a grind season, feeling overwhelmed and short on time. I knew that exercise was important to my mental and physical health. But I thought of it as a “luxury I couldn’t afford.” Like, if I have this much on my to-do list still left undone, how can I justify working out right now? I don’t have time for that… I was stuck in a rut.

Long story short, my husband encouraged me to start making time for it again. Time for me, again. That it was not a luxury, but a necessity that I couldn’t afford to live without. For my own wellbeing and the wellbeing of my entire family as a result. (Thank you for that, Harrison!)

And that’s where I find myself with writing/blogging. This is not something that may move any needle in my business. But, if it can give me a creative outlet & lift my spirits & help me connect with others. It just might be well worth my time.

When you trim out all the fat, you trim out the flavor, too.

As a mom of 4 kids, I often find myself trimming the fat on my life in any way possible to be more efficient, more productive, more frugal. But I keep coming back to this realization that when you trim the fat, you trim the flavor. If I only do the necessary tasks & leave out all the FUN life has to offer, things can start to look bleak real fast. (Hence why marrying an enneagram seven was probably one of my best life choices - he keeps me balanced!)

My leaning will always be towards checking off to-do lists & being productive. It’s how I’m wired, unfortunately. But I am *trying* to lean more in a carpe diem, life is short, yolo sort of direction!

There will always be work to do.

Always! And in this season of my life, probably yours too, a lot of the work is repetitive. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, repeat. But the phrase “make hay while the sun is shining” can be used in regards to having FUN, too.

Here’s to ceasing the day! Here’s to doing something just because you want to! Here’s to writing! Here’s to fun.

I hope you’ll find something you enjoy doing and do it, just because, too.

xo, Suzy

If you enjoyed this little musing, you might like these blogs, too!

I had the pleasure of photographing this lovely family of four at my Knoxville photography studio. The studio provides a cozy and intimate setting that allows us to focus on highlighting the unique dynamics of the family. This family was absolutely full of JOY and I loved getting to freeze these precious moments in time for them and their sweet babes!

Ready to book a family session at the studio?

This summer, I decided to “dumb down” my smart phone in an effort to simplify my life, stay more present to the moment around me, & re-evaluate how I used my phone overall. (You can check out the blog I wrote about it, here.) In short, what this looked like practically speaking for me was making the following changes to how I used my smart phone:

• removing email completely from my phone

• utilizing “Do Not Disturb” periodically throughout the day

• only using Instagram on my phone once or twice throughout the day to respond to DMs, re-share, or post content - NO SCROLLING

• removing text messages from my home screen

• remove Safari from my home screen & only using when necessary

• removing other distracting apps & only keeping ones that serve a “utility” purpose

How the Phone Detox Went

Overall, while there were definitely inconveniences included in this little challenge, I REALLY enjoyed my “dumb phone summer”! It was very enlightening in regards to how I want to use my phone moving forward. I’ll share some of the benefits, struggles, & which changes I intend to keep as part my normal rhythm moving forward.

The Biggest Benefit

The biggest benefit I experienced during this summer challenge was rest for my mind. Life this summer was crazy enough with 3 kids home at home from school & running a business & just the fullness of regular ol’ thangs. Streamlining how I used my phone and what I allowed myself access to throughout the day helped bring a sort of peace to my life.

Before starting this little detox, I would compulsively check my email for work & hop on/off of Instagram all throughout the day. My summer boundaries were SO good for helping me stay present & FOCUSED in the moment, knowing I would have a chance to check in on work things at a time set aside later on in the day. My default had been to multitask with work mixed in throughout the day, which was okay at times, but would often lead me to checking out completely to what was happening right in front of me.

In complete honesty, raising children can at times feel mundane and repetitive -cutting up lunch into tiny bites for the baby, sitting on the floor playing with blocks, folding the laundry, picking up the same toys over and over, repeat. But, I BELIEVE, despite how I feel, that it is GOOD and worthy work. Yes, it may be repetitive and yes, I may not always have something grand to “show for myself” at the end of the day, but what a great privilege and blessing to have tiny humans to raise, to teach about God and His truth. It’s tempting, in the midst of these daily moments, to feel lonely or unproductive. And in those moments, it’s tempting to grab my phone and check out completely by hopping on Instagram or try to bolster my self-worth my multi-tasking with my business. Putting these boundaries in place for a season was so good for my soul.

The Biggest Struggles

One of the realities of running a business & “working from home” for me means that work life bleeds into my personal life at times. Yes, it’s up to me to create boundaries when I think it’s necessary, hence this whole challenge, but sometimes these boundaries just aren’t black and white.

For example, sometimes this summer, I needed to refer to time-sensitive work issues while on the go with the kids. Not having email on my phone was a big inconvenience in those moments! Most of the time, saving my time spent on email for specific periods of time at my computer was great and was all that I needed. But occasionally, this created a problem for me.

Or as another example, as great as it to be “unplugged” from my phone while on vacation, running a rentable photography studio means that I need to be available to my clients when they’re using the studio, whether I’m on vacation or not. That’s just how it is!

Different occupations require different levels of connectivity from us on our phones and sometimes those things are out of our control. I will always prefer a job that allows me more freedom to completely unplug and take time away from my phone, because it’s something I am passionate about, but sometimes I have to bend for what is required from me.

More Realizations

Internet | After reflecting this summer, having the internet on my phone is a convenience that I am thankful for. I use it a lot for searching for information needed in the moment - an address or hours for a restaurant, the dates for a summer park activity, meal train info for a friend, Google translate when chatting with a new friend I made, etc. I’m thankful that my boundaries reduced online shopping/perusing, exiting a convo to look up random info, and other things like that, but I was thankful to have it there when I need information quickly in the moment. My summer schedule with my kids was very much on-the-go, we were probably out adventuring more than we were at the house, and I often used the internet on my phone for quick and helpful info that contributed to our activities running smoothly.

Texting | I am realizing how much I use texting for helpful & brief communication. The Messages app still takes up the most screen time on my phone, but as I reflected on it throughout this challenge, I found that it’s helpful for coordinating and communicating quickly. In regards to connecting with other people, I will always prefer face-to-face conversations or talking over the phone, but I am glad to have texting on my phone for utility purposes.

Social Media | Not scrolling on social media was sooo nice. It was such a silly time-sucker for me and when I run a cost benefit analysis, it is clear to me that the benefits are meager compared to the distraction it can often be for me.

I’m going to make a few controversial statements now about social media... Scrolling social media for the purpose of “keeping up with people” is a ruse. In my opinion, thinking that social media helps us “keep up with people” is a trick of sorts. I just don’t think we were designed to be so connected with so many people. We each have different capacities for relationships, but I think we were only meant for so many meaningful relationships with people we love and social media offers a false promise and idea that we can stay close to more people than is really possible. When you stop using social media, you realize quickly who really matters to you and who you really matter to. And in all honesty, this can be a HARD thing to accept. We may WANT to stay close to everybody, all of our friends from high school and college and distant relatives, etc. But there are only so many people that we can actually know deeply and show up for when they need us most, and vice versa.

Personally, I feel most connected to people through quality time and conversation. So while I may be able to see what friends are up to on social media and that may give me a sense of knowing them, there often isn’t a real two-way connection happening in that moment.

I hold deep places of love for people I’ve known from different seasons of my life and when I do get to see people who live far away from me, it is SO special to reconnect and catch up and share vulnerably about what’s going on in life. And I think it’s OKAY that in those moments, I may not know everything that has happened in their life since I last saw them. It’s a reasonable expectation and is something we can catch up on when we get to talk one-on-one.

Habits I’m Going to Keep in Place

No email on my phone | Though inconvenient at times, I really enjoyed this boundary. I know myself and I can easily get sucked into checking my email all day. I preferred having times set aside to sit down at my computer and respond to several at once, instead of responding to individual emails all throughout the day. I feel more focused overall and like less communication is slipping through the cracks.

Not scrolling instagram | I tried only using Instagram on my computer at the start of this challenge, but the desktop version of Instagram just isn’t very user friendly. I had to re-download it to my phone in order to re-share things we were tagged in or create reels because the computer version didn’t have that capability. But, I didn’t use get sucked into the black hole of scrolling endlessly and my mind felt much less cluttered because of that. I’m planning to keep a similar rhythm with how I use it moving forward.

Using do not disturb | This was so helpful when I was in work-mode and didn’t want to be distracted!

Charging my phone in a separate room | This was just one more physical barrier and boundary to help keep me from scrolling at night or first thing when I wake up. This is a no-brainer for me.

Conclusion

I think participating regularly in challenges like this are a helpful way for me take a step back and re-evaluate my priorities & values. I can be an all-or-nothing type of person, which can be both good and bad… But I do respond well to challenges like these because they me clear my mind and sort of hit reset so I can decide which habits in my life need changing. I’m hopeful that the new habits I’ve built will serve me well in not feeling so busy and frantic in this very FULL season of life!

If you’re feeling like your phone has become a burden in your life, I encourage you to take a step back from it with a little detox of your own to re-evaluate things. I promise you won’t regret it!

Newborn photos are so special & important because when you’re in the middle of the sleepless nights, life can almost feel like a dream. Your life is like a twinkling haze of love & feeding a baby & changing diapers & chasing children. So it’s extra sweet to document this season so that you can remember all the sweet details of your baby when you finally get a moment to catch your breath, and catch up on rest. When you welcome home a newborn to a big family, I understand the importance of capturing the bond between all of you now that your family has grown! That’s what I love most about this session with this precious family!

My studio can be the perfect setting to create beautiful and heartwarming newborn family photos, even with large families, because it is one less thing for you to worry about, mama! No need to spruce up the house, just come to my space and I will take care of the rest! My neutral and inviting studio backdrop ensures that the focus remains on your family & your newest addition.

Personality Pics

Don’t forget the personality pics! I love making sure to get individual portraits of each of your babes that show off who they are! I love how the kids spirits shine through in these photos!

All families, big & small, are welcome here!

It would be an honor to photograph you & yours in the studio!

Family Photos at Home

My summer has been full of photo sessions at my new photography studio in North Knoxville, but I still love coming into your homes to document this season of life for you right where you are. There is something so special about having photos taken in the very place where you live, work, & play together. I believe some of the most sacred moments of our lives take place in our sometimes seemingly mundane, daily rhythms together. And I am honored when you invite me into that to photograph you and your family. I love my job.

Ready to book a family session at home?

Sometimes, when I look at my life & the way I’m raising my children, I feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment in myself. It doesn’t look like how I thought it should based on how I was raised. I grew up in a family of 7 kids with a “stay at home” mom. (Side note: I’ll use quotation marks a lot throughout this blog because I think we use a lot of terms & words surrounding motherhood that are incomplete, no longer relevant, or completely inaccurate and for semantics sake, I think we need to be a bit more clear.) I loved how I grew up. And I always thought I would do it the same way. I actually have a journal of mine from elementary school that said by the time I was 30, I hoped to have 7 kids of my own. So, I’m currently failing at that dream as well seeing as I will only have 4 kids at age 30, instead of 7. 😜 (Which is a major blessing of course! I’m just poking fun at how I thought I would casually have 1 baby per year after graduating college.) 

Can you relate with this feeling of disappointment? Maybe it’s not the same circumstances as mine, but a similar feeling. You grew up seeing your mom have a thriving professional career and now you’re a stay-at-home mom wondering if you’re doing “enough.” Or maybe you are in a similar boat to mine and what was modeled for you was a full-time, stay-at-home mom, so now that you find yourself working, you wonder if you’re doing something “wrong”, if you’re making a “bad” choice. Or maybe, what was modeled for you is irrelevant altogether due to your circumstances, but along the way, you still built some ideal in your head of what a mom “should” look like, and when you don’t match up to that image, you question if you’re failing at your God-given role of mother.

It’s worth noting that the way we mother is made up of both personal choices and circumstances outside of our control. Circumstances like finances, whether or not we have a supportive partner, how many kids we have, if we have children with special needs of some kind, our own personal health restrictions, where we live, etc. - these all impact the options & choices we even have available to us at all.

Regardless of what the ideal was that you created in your head and how you match up to it currently, as moms, I think we can find common ground here. We’re wrestling with who we thought we would be/what life would look like raising kids & the reality of what actually is. And we’re trying to make peace with it all.

When culture undermines the value you provide at home…

Over the last several decades, women in America have seen major advancements. Rights that weren’t even granted to our very grandmothers are now ours. Over the last 100ish years, women were given the right to vote for the first time, were promised equitable wages for the same type of work as men & have seen other major improvements in the work place, have been better protected against discrimination for pregnancy & childbirth, were given more advocacy as victims of domestic abuse & rape, & more. And I believe there is still more to come, BUT -

I think with these major advancements, has often come an undermining of the role women often play at home. The term “stay-at-home mom” often has the word just in front of it. “I’m just a stay-at-home mom,” we say. As if it is something of lesser value than more easily defined roles that we see in the work place. There is a pressure that now that we can be/do/accomplish whatever we want, we should.

More accurate encompassing titles for “stay-at-home mom” (many of which I got from you guys via my Instagram) might be CEO of [your last name] Inc., Home Engineer, Family Manager, Superwoman, Chief Home Officer, President of HR, CFO of Home & Family Budgeting, Life Sustainer, Quality Control Coordinator, Professor of Emotional Development, Mind Reader, Manager-of-all-things-no-one-knows-has-to-be-done-until-they’re-undone, [your last name] Home Chief Officer, Snack Machine, Human Growth Specialist, Domestic Engineer, Boss Lady, CEO of Child & Family Safety & Development, and the list could go on & on & on & on.

When mothers choose to stay home instead of taking a role they would slayyy in the work place, they are not simply “staying home.” They are making a choice to take on some combination of raising children, educating children, meal prepping, cooking, managing the family’s finances, cleaning the home, organizing schedules, providing transportation, doing the laundry, organizing, planning enriching experiences, & MORE.

And this non-exhaustive list leads me to my final point & ultimately my encouragement today for part-time working moms:

Part-time working moms often don’t outsource their roles at home.

I think that a reason part-time working moms often feel so stressed, exhausted, & under-appreciated is because they don’t replace themselves at home. As a part-time working mom, you are now spending x-amount of hours at your job or on your business, but have you then delegated those same amount of hours of the work you were doing at home to someone else? cricket, cricket… My guess is: probably not. The pitfall of the part-time mom is that she thinks she can take on 20 hours per week at a new job or start a business of her own or pick up a “side-hustle” and still accomplish the same exact exhaustive list of things she was doing before in the home. That math just don’t add up. The reality is, those things at home either need to be outsourced to someone else (maybe that’s a paid position, maybe that’s your husband, maybe that’s grocery delivery, maybe that’s your kids!) or they need to be let go of completely. We all have different standards for how we manage our home & family. We have different expectations of just how clean a well taken care of home is, just how many meals are fully homemade & if those ingredients are all organically, locally sourced 🤪, or just how many loads of laundry we can get done in a week. Sometimes, things don’t need to be outsourced, we just need to change our expectations within reason. We need to take a look at our current reality and see what’s actually possible.

And on a separate note, I think this needs to be said - if you don’t want to outsource these things and you don’t want to let them go… maybe you need to quit your part time job. It’s a hard truth to hear, but if you have the option of considering this, be sure to make your mental health and well-being a top consideration in the decision-making process. It’s hard to put a financial value on a well-rested, happy mom. Happy moms = happy kids. And that is worth A LOT.

Some final love for my part-time workin’ mamas:

(and a note to self)

Go eat a snack. Showers are something every human deserves. Exercise is SO hard to make time for, but so worth the pay off for your mental health. Get a good night’s rest. Your well-being is so important. Ask for help. Ask for help. Ask for help. If you have a teammate raising your children with you, have an honest conversation about how things are going, about what might possibly be delegated, about how things can run more smoothly. Surround yourself with positive community. Guard your heart & mind from negative thoughts.

The work you do at home is valuable, almost impossible to put a price on. You have such a high capacity, because you’re a woman, but that doesn’t mean you can or have to or should do it all.

It’s okay if your ideals don’t match your current reality. Make the changes you can make to live at peace in your spirit and let go of the things you can’t control.

Sending my love, Suzy

Since starting my photography business in the fall of 2016, I have proceeded to be pregnant every single year since then. 🤪 How running a business and being a mom have woven together since then has evolved and taken new form as life around me has changed and as I have changed, too.

Along the way, I have had to wrestle with several different ideas about motherhood floating around our culture to determine what I personally believe about them and how they line up with my own values. Sometimes, two directly opposing cultural ideas have come across my path in the same day and left me wondering, what is actually true here? What do I believe about motherhood, my purpose, & my life?

So in this blog today, I wanted to share 4 different ideas (lies) I have come across over the last several years since starting our family and the encouraging truth that I have landed on to encourage me in the midst of it all. Disclosure, the truth I cling to when feeling discouraged comes from the Bible, which I believe to be God’s word. You may not agree with my beliefs, but if you keep reading, I hope you still find some encouragement here.

1. You wasted your youth & beauty on childrearing.

Harsh, right? But can you relate? Have you ever heard this cultural idea expressed in other words? The idea that you gave up the “best” years of your youth & beauty due to growing a baby in your belly… the idea that now, because you have had a child, you’re washed up, old news, run down, and hagged.

I know this might sound crazy, but lies often do when you type them out or speak them plainly out loud. That’s why it’s so good to call them out and then throw them in the TRASH where they belong. The idea that I wasted my youth on having & raising children is a HUGE lie I have heard both directly and indirectly from all kinds of people, some of them even well-meaning, bless their little hearts.

And while yes, being pregnant and raising children has changed my body, and yes, I am older now than when I first began my journey of motherhood, and yes, I have aged (GASP), here is the truth I cling to when I’m feeling discouraged by this idea:

Physical beauty is not the end-all be-all goal of our lives. This lie impacts all women every where, mom or not. We have placed physical beauty on the highest pedestal in our lives, it has become one of our highest priorities, something to be chased after, sought for at any and all costs… But it is NOT where my purpose, worth, & identity lie. It’s okay to want to look & feel beautiful, but that desire has its place. Far behind other matters in my life.

My youth isn’t just about having a beautiful body, my youth also provides the biologically necessary things for bearing & raising children. What a gift to be able to have or raise children, to have energy, and health. None of these things were promised to me, but wow, what a bummer to overlook these blessings because of a silly lie in my head.

Plus, far more than the Bible talks about physical beauty, it talks about the beauty of the heart. Our tendency is to focus on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7). Beauty is a vanity, but a woman to be praised is the one who fears the Lord (Proverbs 31:30). We should let our most important attributes be found within our heart, an imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious (1 Peter 3:4). Even Jesus himself had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him, yet He is our ultimate example of a life lived for the glory of God (Isaiah 53).

My youth and beauty are not bad things to enjoy or preserve, but they’re also not what give me my worth. 2 resources that have recently encouraged me in this matter are this article called A Living Sacrifice: The Beauty of a Body Broken for Others as well as this podcast on motherhood, beauty, & aging by Risen Motherhood. I hope these might encourage you, too!

2. Your ambitions (& purpose) died when you started having kids.

Again, these lies are SHOCKING to say out loud. Like who would ever be so bold & rude as to say this? But if you’re a mama reading this, I’m guessing that this resonates.

There is a pressure to “do all the things you’ve always wanted to do” BEFORE you have kids. As if, when you do become a parent, those days will be over. Once you become a mom, there will be no time, money, or margin left for anything else.

Travel the world, make your way up the corporate ladder, start a business, start a ministry, run a marathon, buy & renovate a house, have fun with your friends… and hurry. Because once you have a kid, there will be no space left for any of these things, and, your life as you know it will be over.

Oh man, life HAS changed, and my ambitions in life have been greatly molded by raising my children, but here are the truths I cling to:

I have to consider so much more than just myself now, or even just myself and my husband, true. But the purpose of my life was never to make a name for myself. My purpose wasn’t to see the world. My purpose wasn’t to have a vibrant social life and ALL the fun I could soak up. Those things are great… but they are not everything, they’re not where my worth is derived, they’re not where I find my identity.

It is a worthwhile pursuit to invest time, energy, love, & money into my children. It is a form of discipleship that Jesus has called me to and blessed me with. It is good to consider others before myself. It is good to lay down my ambitions for others. Real joy is found in putting others first, in service, in love, in dying to myself.

Jesus says when we lose our life, we will find it (Matthew 16:25). And yes, sometimes in motherhood, we can feel like we’ve lost ourselves. (This is worth exploring & seeking counsel on!) But also, maybe losing ourselves for the sake of others, can be a catalyst in the right direction when we re-center what our lives are really about…

I believe the goal of my life, to use John Piper’s words, are to enjoy God and glorify Him forever. I love the scripture-based idea that, “God is most glorified in us when we are the most satisfied in him. The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever.” For more on this idea, check out John Piper’s sermon on Our Grand Obligation, here.

This means that no matter what God has called us to, motherhood or anything else, we can live out our purpose by enjoying God and therefore glorifying Him in the midst of whatever He has called us to!

3. You need to water down your motherhood to fit in.

I struggled with this idea a lot early on in my motherhood. This one might not be as relatable as the first two, but I’m just bein real. It took me a while to lean in to all that being a mom entailed and fully embrace what it meant for my life (still working on that every day). It’s like, I wanted to be a mom, but I didn’t want to be left out of anything people without kids were doing. I wanted to “fit in” and for everyone to know that I could still hang. It was very much a spirit of “I’m a cool mom” from Mean Girls. I tried to “hide” that I was a mom & the ways that it impacted me.

When it came to my business, I didn’t want to be discredited or overlooked because I was a mom, so I let much of my business rule my personal life instead of seeking out ways for my personal-life & work-life to live harmoniously together. Shooting a wedding while nursing a baby? I’d just let myself get engorged and pump for 5 minutes in a hot car at some point in the afternoon… Just one example of a lack of appropriate boundaries, oops.

While it’s fair that I didn’t want to miss out on things with my friends and a new business did require a lot of “hustle” to get off the ground, here are some truths that encouraged me to lean into my role as a mom and not water it down:

Motherhood does change things. It rearranged my priorities as I once knew them. But that’s okay and that is expected and that’s how it should be.

Friendships change in different seasons of life, this is also okay and expected. The ones that are meant to endure will last through seasons of change and some may ebb and flow. Some may even come back around in a different season after a passing of time. This is all okay. Sometimes we need to “let go” of a friendship for the sake of our values or the sake of our personal health. And I’m not referring to “toxic” relationships, I’m speaking about friendships with great people. We are not failures because we cannot maintain all relationships as we once did prior to starting a family. For a season, you may need to prioritize sleep over a late night out with friends. Or you may find that between running a business and raising your children, you only have a limited amount of time to invest into friendships and you have to get more intentional with who you pursue. I think you catch my drift… Becoming a mom doesn’t mean I can’t have friends, but it might change things as they were before and that is okay.

Similarly with work, when it was just me, it was my prerogative to stay up late working on a project. It was my prerogative to work when & how & where I wanted to. But when I had my first baby, I had to start filtering those decisions through a new lens and that’s a good thing. Women have come so far throughout history in the workplace. We have so many more opportunities than we once did! But I have to remember that just because I can do something, doesn’t mean I should. And as a business owner, I have to be responsible to set boundaries that respect the life I want to lead, not just for myself, but for my family. And when I do so, though I might lose out on business opportunities, I will ultimately be left working with the type of clients who respect my values as a mother.

Motherhood asks a lot from us and we don’t need to water down the responsibility that it is and its impact on us in order to fit in. When I seek first Jesus and His kingdom priorities, I don’t have the be anxious about the rest (Matthew 6:25-34). Things will fall into place as they need to.

4. A mom is ALL that you are.

This feels like an important note to end on, following up on the previous lie. I have always felt this tension between the idea that I either needed to water down the fact that I was a mom to fit in and the idea that a mom was ALL that I was. A lie in our culture is that once you become a mom, that becomes your all consuming identity. You are a mom now and little of anything else.

But the truth is:

I am still a wife. A daughter, a sister, a friend. I’m an individual with unique interests outside of childrearing and the interests of my kids. I am a business owner. I am a woman who needs friendship, and adequate sleep, and nourishment, and exercise, and time alone. These things might sound silly to list out, but it’s a quick list of the things us women often let go of as we become mothers.

Being a mom is a major component of who I am as a person. It’s a life-long title I took on the day I became pregnant with my first baby. But it’s not the only thing that defines me.

And ultimately, my identity is found in Christ. I am a child of God. I am loved, forgiven, set free from my sin and shortcomings. I was knit together, in my mother’s womb, with a purpose. I am God’s handiwork. I was created by Him to do good works that He prepared in advance for me to do. I am one member of a greater, connected community of believers. I was made in His image. And the list goes on… the Bible tells me the story of who God is and as a result, who I am in Him. I have no shortage of truth to remind me of who I am because of Him. He made me a mom, but my purpose extends even way beyond the gift of motherhood that He gave me.

Closing Thoughts

If this post resonated with you, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to shoot me an email, here. The truths I stand on are inspired by the Bible, God’s Word. You may not believe that scripture is true or inspired by God himself, but I hope you might find some encouragement here nonetheless.