365 Days of Happy – Revisted
It’s been a while (1 month, 1 day) since I wrapped up my 365 days of happy project.
The project started as a simple attempt at finding a single moment of happiness every day for 100 days and to capture the moment with my Pentax K5. Somehow it grew to be 365 days.
I am still amazed when I think about the fact that I took at least one photo a day for 365 days. I am even more amazed when I realize I actually took a total of 9005 photos or 77.2 GB of photos!
Seriously, that’s insane!
And I thought today after taking some time without my camera to reflect on how I’m feeling now that I am not carrying my camera with me everyday. So, here are 7 thoughts/observations now that I am not taking happy day photos:
- My first thought is that, right now I am still loving not having to carry my camera with me. At about 300 days I was getting really sick of carrying my camera everywhere. So, I’m still really enjoying the fact that I am not tethered to the camera.
- I am finding myself annoyed when I see something that makes me smile, and I don’t have my camera with me. I know, I just said that I was loving not carrying my camera. Yet, I also miss it. I miss capturing these simple moments.
- I am enjoying sharing the camera with Mr. MPB again. He also loves to take photos and in the last year he virtually never took a single photo – how could he, when a key component of my project is that I took a photo of something that made me happy? The project was all about me, so he really didn’t have a role in taking the photos. (Although he did have a significant role in helping make the happy moments happen).
- I am now using my phone a bit more to take photos. Which means I am using Instagram more. (If you want to follow me on IG, I have a private account and I only approve people I know – so send me an email if you think I might not recognize your IG name).
- We found that through the project we were making an effort to get out and do things to make sure we created happy moments. We are now noticing that we are working later in the evenings and not getting out as much. While we both enjoy our work, sitting in front of our computers working until 7 or 8 pm every night is not the happiest way to live. So we are going to make a better effort to do at least a few things every week which bring us happiness – walking the dog, berry picking, jam making, cooking, etc.
- I think my photography skills improved through the 365 days. But, I’ve rediscovered that I am not very competent when it comes to photographing human beings. I got good at taking photos of objects, humans are a bit more complicated! I can see where I might need to put some effort next.
- I think I still am able to see simple and small happy moments on a regular basis. After practicing for 365 days, I’m still pretty good at it. I hope that this is something I can hold onto into the future as I think it’s a great life skill.
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I got so excited when I saw the title, I was hoping you were going to start again lol!! Maybe you could get a small point-and-shoot camera that fits in your purse to carry around with you in case you want to capture happy moments that you see? I actually have a nice Canon digital (not an SLR though) that I haven’t touched once since getting my little simple camera. The pictures turn out the same, and it’s much smaller and easier to use!
Anyway…I’m glad you learned some things from your year of happy. B and I spend a lot of time at night during the weeks sitting in front of computers or TV as well…we really need to get out more! What are some of the things you guys would do to get out and about? I need suggestions!
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Hahaha! There is no way I’m starting again!! I really am thrilled that I don’t have to carry my camera around with me all the time anymore. 🙂
As for suggestions on what we do, when our TV/computers aren’t on (which they are right now) – our dog motivates us to get out for walks, and we always try to go somewhere more then just around the neighbourhood. Parks with wildlife always make us happy. In summer we are much better at getting out – we just find things to do – saskatoon berry picking, farmer’s markets, I really want to go to a corn maze this fall, there’s a honey farm nearby that I want to go to, etc. Just random things that are usually cheap – we just google for ideas. 🙂
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There’s supposed to be an amazing corn maze here, but I’m honestly afraid to go. Did you ever see the “Children of the corn” movies? They terrified me when I was young, and I still get nervous around corn fields! I’d love a hay ride though lol! We need to find some fun, low-key, inexpensive things to do near us to keep us busy!
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I have not seen that movie, nor do I plan to watch it now as I really want to enjoy my corn maze experience. 🙂
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I love this post! I have certainly seem your photography improving through this as well! There were quite a few pictures towards the end where I couldn’t choose my favorite. All the pics were so good!
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Awe, thanks so much Sondra. You just made my day.
I’m already excited to share my pictures from this weekend, I cannot pick a favourite one for the life of me! So, I’m excited to hear your thoughts on Sunday. 🙂
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*seen
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I don’t know how you made it 300 days carrying your camera around every day before getting sick of it. I’d be tired of it after 2. 😉 I’m glad the project helped you find happy things in the day to day. That’s a great skill to hone!
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I too have no idea how I actually did this! But, I am glad that I stuck to it and learned how to see happy things every day. 🙂
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Really interesting about the work/life balance. Great that you’ve picked up on it too. I need to think about that more as well. It is so easy for me to be a homebody and then I don’t experience so much that is beautiful about the world. Thx for highlighting this 🙂
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I’m glad something from this spoke to you! We’ve really noticed the struggle with work/life balance now that I’m working again. It turns out when I wasn’t working I was much better at getting Mr. MPB to stop working so that I wasn’t bored at night. So, now we need to work a bit harder at getting our balance back.
If you come up with any good strategies please share. 🙂
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I use my iPhone for all of my photos because of the convenience. I don’t think I’d make it through one week if I had to carry around a camera. It’s natural to fall back into old habits, but it sounds like you’ve caught yourselves, and will try to incorporate more happy into your lives. I think we all struggle to find that balance. I’m glad that this experience was so beneficial for you, and I’m looking forward for more pics on IG!
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You make such a good point about how natural and easy it is to fall back into old habits – and we’ve noticed that in the last month or two we’ve been a lot busier and some of the healthy things we were focusing on have gone by the side. I guess it’s time to get our butts back in gear and find a bit more balance. 🙂
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Yup. Balance is so hard. I think we spend our entire lives trying to find it.
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