365 days of 2013: the year in review and also something about FOMO

an ambitious photo journal project and posting it on Facebook for the whole world to see...

For those reading this who are not avid readers of my blog (I don't blame you, I post about as regularly as I visit the hairdresser - which is not a lot), I attempted and completed my goal in 2013 of posting a photo on social media of every day in the year. This is a post about it.

Admittedly, I was a bit of a failure when it came to sticking to my guns. I didn't do a post daily, but rather uploaded in dribs and drabs, batching my days up. Because of this, there were days when I let things slide a bit. Days that whizzed by unassumingly, days that sparked no comment, days that fade into obscurity as I found "filler pics" to accomplish my goal. Or make it seem as though I did.

I could have given up on after the first failed day. It's true that posting about my project so boldly on social media was a pretty big reason for me to carry on. I didn't want to be outed publicly as having little integrity or disappoint my adoring fans (haha).

There are some days that I went out of my way to ensure I had something awesome to post about. Dinners with friends, new adventures in the Cape, and thankfully my month spent in 'Murica provided me with stuff to post. But what do those "filler" days indicate? Sometimes life got hectic. Sometimes my days sucked. Sometimes I was so lethargic and demotivated and down about life that I didn't even want to roll out of bed let alone post about it to all my friends.

And that's just it... when we see our friends' lives on social media, we see what people selectively choose others to see. We see the nights out with friends, we see the fantastic overseas holidays, the weddings and engagements and accomplishments. Yes, there are some tragic events that some choose to share with the world, but for the most part I feel slight but noticeable triggers of envy when I check my social media updates. It could be that I just have pretty darn awesome friends doing amazing things in their lives. All I know is, it gives me a serious case of the FOMO.

Perhaps not everyone attempts to portray their lives as perfect. I certainly don't like to make posts that indicate my vulnerability online. So on the tough days, I didn't want to post anything. I didn't want to show how broken I felt, how overwhelmed by life, how exhausted, miserable or stressed.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.
On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

- Oh the places you'll go by Dr Seuss 

Twenty thirteen to my mind was a pretty shoddy year. There were some pretty high highs and lowest of lows. I'm happy to leave it far behind. There are some things I've taken into the new year with me, and several have been due to the project. Far from doing fewer things now that my photo journal is done, I've done many more things, in fact. And I haven't necessarily posted about them. There's a joke about something not being official until it's Facebook official. I feel a certain freedom now when I embark on my adventures without pasting it on some site.

Resolutions for the new year? 2014 is a year of freedom, of doing, of making it happen, of not waiting. No waiting for the right moment, for the right person, for the right place. There is no right time... Today is The Day! We are naturally resistant to change, but change is inevitable. We might as well initiate it on our terms.

365 days of 2013: The month of lurv

Documenting each day of twenty thirteen.

January's post can be found here.

The second month of my photo diary project has come to a close (apologies for the short delay)! In no particular order, here are the days of February:

I have had much more time to reflect on the wisdom of embarking on this particular endeavour, and have experienced "roller-coaster emotions" (excuse the cliché; it is relevant to this month thanks to the trip to Ratanga!) There were a few times I became so fed up that I almost quit, and other times where I enjoyed planning the daily shot. What became quite apparent to me, though, was that this project means something different to everyone. To some, it is a testament to making the most of each day; to others, it is a more realistic portrait of everyday life than can be found in Facebook newsfeeds.

What's the good of living if you don't try a few things? 

Charles M. Schulz

My resolution going into February was to do more of the things I said I would do or wanted to do. I did several new things: visited new places and cooked new dishes. If you go through my posts, they are largely positive and, with the exception of my Red Hot Chilli Pepper concert rage, filled with things that made my day worthwhile. They certainly fit in with the "month of love" theme. 

Do these photographs make others' days worthwhile? Or do they only serve to add value to my own day? Is my quest for daily snapshots a purely selfish one?

But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie. 

Khaled Hosseini

Yesterday, I dashed in to Garden centre for some early Sunday morning shopping. I was so caught up in my own mission that I almost missed an old lady trying to cross the busy parking lot. I quickly offered my help and my arm, and she told me how it's usually the "handsome young men" who help her to cross. I could have made excuses about being stressed out from being on call (double rotation!) or finding out that my home has been placed on the real estate agent's site (sad face). But I don't want to spend my days justifying why I live life in my comfort zone and miss out on opportunities to live a more meaningful life. This means living less in my head and more in the moment; not acting according to social convention, but rather as my conscience demands.

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions. 

Lillian Hellman

I am not choosing charity to be the photo theme for March; but I will find ways to add value to the lives of those I encounter.

365 days of 2013 - January in review

Documenting each day of twenty thirteen.

365 days of 2013 - a task I committed myself to without much forethought on the first of January 2013. Something of a photo diary, snapping at least one pic (on my cellphone or snazzy dSLR) to mark each day of the year as it passes. There are several reasons to take on something like this, not least of these is the attempt at making each day count. Life's not about the number of breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away, quote unquote fortune cookie catchphrases.

There are also just as many reasons not to take on a project like this. It's easy to become dissatisfied with being content. FOMO (fear of missing out, lucky you if you didn't know that) is a very real danger in our social networking obsessed generation. Like this, check in here, tag that, share this, comment on all of these...

However, if there's any one quote I'd like to carry through life with me, it's this: 

The unexamined life is not worth living.

- Socrates

And what better way to examine life is there than to keep a photo journal?

So here's a montage of January moments

Number of work-related pics: 8

Number of friends in pics: 8

Number of pics taken in new places: 11

Number of pics involving food: 12

Do the photos I've chosen to represent each day of January 2013 indicate in some way my priorities? Or do the categories I've chosen to group my pics into imply something? Perhaps we find meaning where we look for it. 

At any rate, it's funny what memories are most vivid when I reminisce without a visual stimulus to prompt me. When I think back now on my January, what is foremost in my mind is the many hours of hard work and late nights/early mornings, easily eclipsing many of the fantastic adventures I had. I clearly need to work on my attitude!

Sadly, on some of the days I was really scrambling to find a pic of something that I felt was worthy of making it into the photo diary (notice the coffee machine?), and on others I had several to choose from (that's where the montages come from). 

What I'll be taking into February is this: to do more of the things I think about doing, or say I'd like to do.

Hopefully, with this attitude it will finally become about the living of life and not just the documentation of it in photographic form. After all, it's not about the photos, but what the photos are capturing.