Find Your Authentic Gift

Joseph John

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Since I was a young boy, I have always been of the belief that each of us has been blessed with an “Authentic Gift” to offer the world, a skill or talent that is innate to each of our unique beings.?Some ability that just comes naturally to us with minimal toil and effort but produces outlier results.?Something that brings good into the world.?I have spent many years of my life in search of my “Authentic Gift”, my special ability, my passion.

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As I grew older, I told myself to be patient and be prepared.?I obtained a solid education and continued to work hard, always on the lookout for my “Authentic Gift”. ?I knew I was a hard worker and if I could just figure out what I was supposed to be doing, I would be great at it, I just didn’t know where to direct my efforts.

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Years would pass, I would move from job to job, usually not staying for more than a year at any given place before the boredom or corporate stupidity became too much for me to bear. ?I worked for multiple companies in multiple industries, from small owner operated businesses to fortune 500 companies.?Every time I went to a new company I always felt as though I were starting over, never seeming to get any traction or make the kind of headway in the professional world that I knew I could.?Never reaching my highest level of potential.?Not having direction.?What was infinitely worse, I was unhappy in my work, disgusted in myself and completely and utterly unfulfilled.

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Years would turn into decades, and my depression became despair.?My time on earth was running out and my career had morphed into an exquisite trainwreck.?And as I sat in reflection of my professional life, I began to tell myself that maybe there wasn’t anything special about me and that I just had to accept the fact that this 8 to5 hell was the end of the road for me.?I was doomed to spend my life working hard labor on an unforgiving industrial plantation.

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I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point, I lost all hope.?I walked off my job with no real financial security or even any new job prospects. ?The worst part was, I didn’t even care. ?I think that I was as close as a human being can be to giving up on life and still be living.?Existing… Just waiting to die.

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And then one day something happened.

On a weekend getaway, by sheer happenstance I happened to meet an artist by the name of Cynthia Davis, owner of Hive Alive Art Studio in Marietta, OH.?As we spoke, I became comfortable with her, and I did something that I have never done…I showed her some of my photographs.?I have been taking photos for over 30 years and never showed them to anyone, not even close friends, or family.?I don’t know why, I just always kept them for my own personal enjoyment nothing more.?If I live to be a hundred years old, I don’t think I’ll ever know where I got the courage to show her my work that day but not only did, I want to show her my work, I felt compelled to.?The universe demanded that I show her!

As she praised my work, I was flattered but somewhat skeptical of her motives.?As our conversation continued, she suggested that I place some of my work in her studio!?And in that moment, that single moment, I began to feel a spark of life again.?I went home and built a makeshift studio to work in and within a few weeks I had some of my work in her studio.?A couple of weeks later I would purchase some wall space at Stella’s Art Gallery, where my work received warm responses from fellow artisans.??I was feeling alive again!!!?Could it finally be happening??Is this my Authentic Gift??Black & White Photography? Am I supposed to be an artist? And then suddenly, it all became clear to me, at 52 years old I knew what I wanted to be.?What I had to be.?I had realized my Authentic Gift.?I am a black and white photographer, and I always have been, I just didn’t know it until now.

A few more weeks would go by, and I would submit 3 pieces of work to my first juried art show, all of which found space on the show wall.?My piece titled “House of Coal” would go on to win the “People’s Choice” award for that show.

Since I have realized my authentic gift, my cup is neither half full nor half empty, my cup runneth over.?My limited vocabulary does not allow me to convey the joy that now occupies my heart.?I know what it is that I must do now.?And now that I know, I want to share all my photos with you.?I took them for you….to reflect upon….to contemplate….to stir latent emotion.?Bath in my imagery, I made them just for you.

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Find your Authentic Gift!!!

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?- Joseph John

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