Meet Rachael Short

 

We recently connected with Rachael Short and have shared our conversation below.

Rachael, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

My resilience comes from the willingness to never give up. I have always been a hard worker and very independent. I look back on my childhood and often ask myself where the resilience came from. I didn’t have the easiest childhood, growing up with young parents who worked all the time, and a mother who battled with addiction. I learned at a young age to take care of myself. I have always pushed myself to work hard, learn new things and follow my passions. A car accident in 2010 left me a quadriplegic at the age of 28. At this time, I had a thriving wedding and portrait photography business, and a small fine art photography gallery in Carmel California, Gallery Exposed. I was on the path I had worked so hard to get to. Today I continue with my photography, but my main focus is trying to stay healthy and keep my body moving as much as possible. Giving up is not an option, I keep going every day…

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a fine art photographer and gallery owner. I love photographing in simple black-and-white and creating beautiful prints. I enjoy photographing landscapes, people, still lives and places. The simple things we may overlook or walk past draw me in.
After a car accident in 2010 left me a quadriplegic my life looks very different…
Now in my day-to-day life, I focus primarily on getting movement in my body to stay healthy, both mentally and physically. I also have been able to continue with my passion of photography. I now use the iPhone as my camera and make platinum prints from those iPhone images. I share my photography in galleries, including mine in downtown Carmel, Gallery Exposed, on my website and on social medias.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Determination, perseverance, and creativity.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Since the pandemic, it has been nearly impossible to find good caregivers. I understand there is a labor shortage across all professions, but finding good in-home care has been my biggest challenge for the past couple years. Without strong, healthy people to help me get through my days I cannot focus on anything else. I am only as strong as the people around me, it is a strange thing to rely on another human to get you through your days. This is my greatest challenge.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photographs taken by Rachael Short

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