When the calendar turned to September yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of this old rhyme:
And twenty-nine each leap year.
September has always been one of my favorite months. I love early fall because it’s still warm out, but it feels different than summer. I spent the morning out in the garden yesterday, and it felt like something had changed from the day before. Maybe it’s all in my head? I like it though. I would be fine to have September last for a long time. I’m not looking forward to the winter.
Something else strange happened on September 1st, I decided to start up a new Project 365 habit again. I haven’t done a photo-a-day since 2008, and I wasn’t sure I would ever tackle that kind of project again. After talking about it several times on The Digi Show, I had a change of heart. I’ve been thinking of how neat it would be to have each day of our homeschool year documented in photographs. I’ve thought about my son being a senior and my daughter being a freshman. I’ve realized that time is fleeting, and I’m really longing to hang on to it. School started on August 22nd, but I’ve been completely swamped, overwhelmed, and totally exhausted since then. I’ve wondered how I’m going to get through homeschooling 2 high school students in a very intensive online program? I pretty much decided that the last thing I needed was another project, another responsibility, and I definitely did not need more to do.
Then I woke up on the morning of September 1st, and suddenly, it all seemed ok. I decided I could do this and that more importantly, I WANT to do this. I know I won’t regret the few extra minutes a day it will take to work on this goal. I know I will be thrilled when I have an entire year documented. I’m trying not to obsess about not starting on January 1st – or that I didn’t start on the first day of school. This is hard for me. I’m reminding myself that it’s ok to start now, and that it’s actually a great beginning for a new approach to memory keeping.
What’s my plan of attack?
- I know Katrina Kennedy will play a big part in inspiring me. I love her photo lists. I love her CaptureYour365 site and community. I pretty much think she’s awesome.
- I’m going to be much more flexible than I was last time. Really, I am. My general goal is to capture our school year and my kids, but I’m not limiting myself to those topics. I want to just photograph my life. Some days I will take a lot of photos. Other days, I will only take a few. If I miss a day, I will make up for it the next day – but I’m going to try really hard to be regular about the whole thing. I want this to become a habit.
- I will read and listen to my own words of advice. I wrote this article for The Daily Digi. I shared my own ideas for Project 365 in this podcast. I have P365 2008 set on Flickr. I started a new P365 set yesterday. I have photo prompts pinned, bookmarked, and saved on my hard drive. I know how to do this…I just need to actually do it.
- I will post and share my photos on a regular basis. I plan to put them on Flickr and in my CaptureYour365 gallery.This will keep me accountable and I look forward to interacting with others who are interested in this project.
- I won’t complain about being too busy for taking pictures. I am busier than I have ever been, but I also need to participate in things that make me happy and fulfilled. It’s ok to spend time doing something I want to do. It’s a very worthwhile project.
Here’s Day 1:
1/365 Virtual School
If anyone else out there is working on a photo-a-day type of project, I’d love to know what keeps you going!
