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Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. -- William Jennings Bryan

Due to a restless night that included at least three trips to the bathroom (thanks to a little munchkin who has decided to comfortably place themselves on my bladder) I found myself wide awake this morning at a quarter to six and just couldn't get back to sleep. And rather than lying in bed waiting for sleep to find me again I found myself at my computer sifting through my photography portfolio, trying to name yet untitled pieces and in general seeking some kind of inspiration and enlightenment in the moments before the sun would slowly begin to show its face and signal the start of yet another day.

There are several photographs that I have had a hard time titling, perhaps because I often find myself thinking that titles should somehow project so much more than a description but evoke a whole feeling and atmosphere. Perhaps this is the writer in me. Perhaps I should allow the photograph to speak for itself. Perhaps.

And so, in my quest to find the right atmosphere as is often the case for me, I found myself turning to books of quotations, seeking inspiration through the words and thoughts of others until my own thoughts can find a way onto the page. And this is when I stumbled across the quote here and I felt gripped by the simple and yet profound idea that Bryan presents.

Destiny, or rather the idea of destiny can be such an elusive notion. Are we destined to any one fate? Are destiny and fate one and the same? Does destiny control us or do we control it?

I cannot answer these questions for everyone, though my own life has seen been sprinkled with notions of destiny. These encounters leave me to believe that destiny is, in fact, real and tangible and not an entity that it is out of my control. Rather, I would side with Bryan in the belief that destiny is something that we must pursue and achieve.

I have often thought of myself as a dreamer and equally as often I have been called that. Though my interpretation of "dreamer" is very different from the interpretation that causes someone to call me a dreamer. Dreamers are not always the most popular people. Perhaps it is because others sometimes resent another person's desire to imagine something more when they themselves have settled for less. I, too, have been guilty of this. To watch someone chase their dreams reminds you of the ones that you have placed on the shelf or that you are still struggling to make real. But in moments of genuine clarity I find that neither resentment nor jealousy really define the emotions that come with seeing another dreamer reaching for their destiny, rather it is the fear that we will not find our own destiny, that our dreams will somehow fall to the wayside and that our fate will be not that which we imagined but rather that which was imposed upon us.

And yet, I strongly believe that if we truly connect with our deepest dreams and desires that although the steps we take may not always seem clearly connected with our destiny they will be. Because who of us could genuinely fathom and understand the picture as a whole before setting out? And isn't it the real purpose of our lives to learn from the small steps? I don't think that I would want the task of having to decipher the picture of the whole of my life all at once, I have rather enjoyed the process of the journey. But I do think that you have to go after it, chase it down and fulfill it. Being a dreamer doesn't mean that you sit around waiting for destiny to find you, it means that you open yourself to the endless possibilities of the world around you and go after the ones that speak to your heart and soul. And despite my romantic tendencies, I would be the first to admit that this does not mean that these possibilities and choices that speak to your heart and soul are going to be ushered in with symphony and the clouds opening to cast divine light over you. But we have, all of us, at some point known deep inside of ourselves that certain choices were making were just right. Whether there were doubts and questions and fear surrounding them or whether they were more clear to us than anything else these were the choices that continued to lead us down the path to fulfilling our destiny.

I am sure that I could go on ... and on ... about destiny, but as I said before it can be such an elusive notion and I find that it tends to be one of those topics that dares you to attempt to define it. Though once you start you find yourself rambling on and on until you realize that you cannot define something that you have not yet seen the end of. I do not know what the real impact and purpose of my destiny is, all that I can know is that I never want to stop pursuing it and reaching for it. After all, look where it has taken me already! As for the untitled photographs, well I guess I will just have to wait and see where the next inspiration takes me and if that will mean a title or not. Perhaps there are times when a photograph has to be allowed to just speak for itself because a title, much like the attempt to define, would result in a long rambling that takes away from the experience. Perhaps.