It Must Be Nice… (Reflections on What You Don’t See Behind the Lens)

The other day, someone DM’d me on Instagram after seeing one of my posts. They said something simple, but it hit me deep:

“It must be nice to have the easy life.”

I didn’t get mad. I didn’t fire back.

Instead, I sat with those words—and then I cried.

Because the truth is, that’s not my story. Not even close.

From the outside, maybe it does look like I’m living some easy, peaceful dream. But what people don’t see is the path I have taken. Especially over the last five years, my life has been anything but easy.

I had a direction. I had a family, a home, and a community-centered business I spent 15+ years building. Life wasn’t perfect, but it had a rhythm. It made sense. I felt rooted.

And then one day, everything changed.

My wife at the time decided she didn’t want to be married anymore. The way it all happened was extreme—sudden, painful, and left me in the dark.

One moment I had a life I believed in, and the next I was standing in the wreckage of something I didn’t see coming.

The business I poured myself into—gone.

The family—split.

The kids—confused, and caught in the middle.

And me—completely lost.

I’ve never felt more alone than I did in those first months.

No clear place to live. No income. No sense of direction.

I sold almost everything I owned just to get by—but I never let go of my camera.

Even when everything else slipped away, I still had that lens. I kept picking it up—not to prove anything or pretend everything was okay, but because capturing the world through my eyes helped me breathe. It gave me something that felt real and grounded.

And slowly… painfully… the corner began to turn.

There were so many late-night talks with God. So many pivots. I tried and failed more times than I can count. But bit by bit, people started noticing my photography on social media. Some referrals trickled in. My travel photos began to speak to people. And I kept following that thread—not chasing trends, not adjusting my style to fit an algorithm, but just doing what felt honest to me.

A lot of folks had opinions—make it brighter, make it more colorful, shoot it this way, don’t put things in the foreground. But honestly, I’ve always walked a different path. I once heard someone say, “Look at the direction everyone is going, and go the opposite way—you’ll have a better shot.” I’ve always related to that. Maybe it’s because I’m left-handed ; ). Maybe it’s just who I am.

I’ve never felt like I fit the mold. For a long time, I thought something was wrong with me because of that. But now, I see it as one of the gifts that got me through.

Today, I’m still rebuilding. Still learning. But I’m no longer stuck in the mud. The fog is lifting, and I’m surrounded by people who see me, support me, and encourage me to keep creating. And for that, I’m deeply grateful.

So, to the person who messaged me…

Yes—it is nice.

But not because it was easy.

It’s nice because I crawled out of the mud with everything I had.

It's nice because I’m still here. And I’m still creating. And I thank God for it all.