You guys, I got some exciting news in my inbox yesterday!

I entered the 2016 shoot and share contest thinking that it would just be fun! The prize pack was amazing, but I didn’t have high hopes at all! There were 220,000 photos entered you guys! The contest has ten rounds of voting and I really didn’t expect to get past round 5. But it never hurts to enter, right? And I am glad I did because I am a finalist! I made it to the top 3.5%!!! That is amazing!!

But I am not telling you this to brag. It is amazingly cool, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything. I am telling you because I want to encourage YOU to take chances. Life is short, my friends. And you have to take chances and live life fully every moment. Maybe you want to enter a silly contest like me. Maybe you want to start your own business. Maybe you want to go back to school. Whatever your dream may be, follow it. It is so easy to sit on the sidelines watching others do things and think “That’s not meant for me!” But the truth is, you only get the chances you take. To borrow the perfect words of my amazing friends Amy and Jordan…”Success isn’t just for the chosen few, it’s for those that chose it!“

GO out and LIVE your dreams today!