Sidetracked

I sort of disappeared. And for that, I apologize. 

So I thought I would write something to explain - because I'm still processing how to balance where I'm at right now. 

The past few months have been pretty intense on both a personal and professional level. My wife is pregnant with our second child - due in April - so we've been focused on preparing for the birth. Finding out that my wife was pregnant was awesome and overwhelming at the same time. Definitely put that fire in me to hustle and make that money! 

Another reason for my disappearance is that I've been slammed with client based - commercial work over the last few months. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to press pause on the post production phase of all of the features that I had worked on over the later part of 2016. 

My intention was to release all of my unfinished features over the last few months of the year - but Nov/Dec (plus early Jan 2017) ended up being my busiest months in a very long time. 

So now that we've reached February - Im just finally at the point where I can pour both hours - and my heart back into this site.

But I feel like I'm forgetting something...something big? Oh yeah, the freakin presidential election.  

Yeah...that's been weighing me down for a while now. And I hate that. So today I'm saying no more. 

But it's taking me a while to get to this headspace. And I'm still getting there to be honest...

If you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I've been posting a few images here and there during my brief coffee outings - But even that's been sporadic since 1. I was traveling so much for work 2. Holiday travels with the family 3. Living in a retouching bubble for the first half of January and 4. I just didn't have the desire to blog about coffee while being mentally consumed by what's happening at this moment our country. 

But I've also realized that I've been using this frustration as a scapegoat for not remaining focused. I mean, just view my personal Twitter account and you'll see where my head has been at lately. Not good. 

But after some serious journaling - prayer - I've come to realize something that sort of kicked my ass - why am I allowing the election/direction of a country to halt my artistic expression? And more importantly - why am I allowing a wanna be dictator with such small hands to consume my thoughts? 

That said, I do think it was good that I was forced to step away for a bit. And my bank account was happy that I was working as well. #thefreelancelife is crazy! 

So even though I wasn't updating this site - and even though I wasn't as active on socials - it was helpful to see other people that I respect, balance their activism/awareness while still pursuing and sharing their craft. I needed to see that I wasn't the only one that was feeling this way. 

On this note: You may have seen the open letter that I wrote to my daughter a few days after the election. If not, you can read it HERE. 

So where do I go from there. Well, I'm freakin' back and Im ready to work. I so excited to be able to start editing down all of the new video - photo - and interview features that I've already shot so that I can begin sharing them here. 

But because of all that I've said here - and because of where Im at mentally - Im hoping that I'll be able to find new ways to include more voices both in and outside of the coffee community that are affecting change in their communities.

Its' been so great to see other people stepping up as well. Just this week, Sprudge announced that hundreds of coffee shops around the US will be donating funds - this coming weekend - to the help the ACLU fight President Trumps insanely bigoted Executive Order - Muslim ban.

Even Starbucks has announced that they will be hiring 10,000 refugee's over the next five years. 

Lastly, I know that politics can be a polarizing issue - and I respect that some people who follow Americano Mondays may not hold the same views as I do. But this is not the time to stay neutral and/or silent. And being that it is my site, I want to - and do feel free to express my views in an open manner. If you disagree with me - cool - that's your right. At least you know where I stand. 

Now it's time to get back to work.