TL;DR: Family didn't support my passion, want to get back in to it but negative memories prevent me. How do I overcome it?
I'm one of those types of individuals who grew up with art. My grandmother was an artist who taught oil painting and was wonderful at it. My brother is a graphical designer for AOL, and loves to draw. Art runs in my blood. Shortly after getting married, I decided I wanted to try out photography and loved it. I read every book, absorbed every inch of photography. People outside of my family told me I was REALLY good at it. So I decided to start a photography business, and did REALLY good at it. Was getting clients, doing commercial work etc, but then my wife wanted to move closer to her family, so I figured I could start over again someplace new and be successful. We moved and things just fell apart for me.
My mother in law is/was a Bible thumping Christian (I only mention this because it helps understand her values were deranged from the Bible etc) who believed that a "man" should provide for his family (which I agree with). She thought what I did wasn't "real" money, and literally would ridicule me at every family event we would go to. My father in law would make snide little comments about how I was "trying" to be a professional photographer, and my other in laws thought I should be giving them free photography as "family doesn't charge family". This happen for months at end. Until one day I couldn't take it anymore.
I grew discouraged and totally put my camera away. I'm still sad I gave it all up, but the comments just became overwelming. Wherever I turned, my family was telling me how to do things. How I wasn't good enough etc. Fast forward to almost 2 years later and I feel that itch in me to start doing photography again. I work a full time job now as a office manager and I'm proud where I'm at. However, my problem is, when I pick up that camera, a flood of memories comes running back and I can't bring myself to do it.
How do I overcome this? I can't bring myself to do the thing I loved, but I really want to pick up my camera again and feel the energy I used to have.