About 3 or 4 years ago, I was reading a book on photography, and this one part in the preface has stuck with me ever since. The author told this story about how he was taking pictures in NYC early in his career and at one point during the day, he suddenly realized he was a photographer.
Now I like this on a few levels. First, I like the idea of someone having a cathartic realization that they finally "are" something. Like this guy took a ton of pictures for years and years, and finally after taking just one of thousands and thousands of shots, something changed within him. He went from taking pictures to being a photographer. I also like the idea that if you work hard enough, and keep at it, you can eventually become what you want to become.
It is why we do the things we do, but this realization is rarely so before and after or binary. The realist in me believes it grows slowly like a tree. The romantic in me wants to believe something can just change. That one day, you go one step further and are never the same.
I waited for this moment to happen to me. I wanted to be a photographer, but that shot never came. I wanted to be a writer, but no word pushed me suddenly to realization. But today, while balancing a thousand things, and trying to do a thousand more, it hit me. I am an entrepreneur. It happened on a Friday night, while people were going out and there was a certain excitement in the air on Ponce in Atlanta. I was in the FedEx parking lot wrapping a box in shrink wrap, writing an exec summary in my mind, hoping I would remember to capture the moment somehow. Suddenly things felt different, I was busier, but calmer, and everything slowed down.
When did Noah build the ark?