having intentions versus being intentional.

sometimes things don’t work out like you hoped. in fact, it’s rare they ever do.

the way i see it, when this happens we have two options.

1. we can get upset but still forge ahead as planned.

2. we can accept what is, acknowledge that what we thought is no longer, and turn a corner that leads us to the path of least resistance - and a happy compromise.

it’s just the way life goes sometimes. we dealt with it once in october (read about that here). we found ourselves in the same position yet again this past weekend, when we traveled to milwaukee to see bon iver play at the bradley center, a huge venue in the downtown.

along with seeing the concert, we had planned to make a mini milwaukee vlog. not unlike our louisville vlogs, we thought 'let's wing it'. go with no plan in hopes that we would end up fumbling around and finding our way.

well, it didn't turn out that way.

as we began to film, we quickly realized something wasn't quite right. it felt rushed and haphazard. everything felt a bit off. we stopped and asked ourselves a crucial question that should drive everything:

why?

why is the basis of truth. without a why a project (or product, or service or lifestyle) is without a reason or purpose. you can make things for the what (what is it for? what is it gonna do?) but unless you have a why, you can only take a project so far. the why is the intention.

---

why were we going to milwaukee?

we weren’t traveling to milwaukee to see the city. we were going to see bon iver's for emma ten year.

why were trying to make a video?

we hadn’t put one out in a while, and we felt like this would have been a good opportunity. but really, we felt like we had to make a youtube video. felt like we had to is not a 'why' we believe in.

we were going to see bon iver, not to see milwaukee. we came to realize the answer to the why didn't line up with our values. our intentions were off. and with that awareness, we asked ourselves why once more.

why then make a video about visiting milwaukee if we had no time and no plans?

if not,"because we felt like we had to" then the answer became no reason at all.

so we didn't.

---

this helped lift the burden of creation off our shoulders. the point of this whole thing, the why behind our entire blog & brand, is to help us maximize our moments and remember our values. why make a video that didn't fulfill that need? instead, we opted for photos. why? because it felt right. the photos felt refreshing - it came naturally, we didn’t have to force it. it didn’t feel like we were trying too hard. we really only took photos in the moments that felt right. the photos seamlessly fit into our plans (the plan still being no plan), allowing us to benchmark the times where we nodded at each other and said “yeah, this is good". after all, that is truly the goal. we strive to have our content creation bond us and bring us into the present moment together, so we can more fully enjoy the time we are given.

it's hard to remember the why of creation. and the why of putting them on the internet. we're one of the last generations to grow up without the internet. being in middle of knowing what its like with it and without it, it often feels like we are grappling with our humanness versus my onlineliness. neither are going away anytime soon, so it has to be about intention. we need recognition of the reality that when you’re creating and consuming content, it needs a why.

constantly be asking & answering the why.