Day In The Life™ 2019 | Reasons Why

Hey Friends! Next week is the first documenting day for  Day In The Life™ 2019 on Tuesday, February 26th. 

The story I want to tell on Tuesday will focus on Morning, Afternoon, + Evening. I'm also planning to collect a small list of Gratitudes to add to one of the 3x4 cards from the kit. The simple questions I want to answer this time are as follows: (1) What does my morning look like right now? (2) What does my afternoon look like right now? and (3) What does my evening look like right now? I'll be using the 3x8 Day In The Life™ album that includes dividers specifically for breaking up my content into those sections along with 3x4 cards from the kit. 

I'm not planning to take a ton of photos this time for this project. I'll likely end up using three 3x4 photos for each section of the day (the 3x4 journaling card will take up the fourth pocket). 

Here's the deal: you don't have to be a memory keeper to participate this project. The purpose is to slow down just enough to capture some wonderfully mundane details of your daily life. Maybe you'll decide to just take written notes throughout the day and add those into your phone. Maybe you'll decide to take photos and print them out in a small photobook. Maybe you'll share throughout the day on Instagram (if you do please tag #aedayinthelife) and that becomes the home for your project.  

Don't make this project more complicated than it needs to be. Just have fun and capture a bit of your real, everyday life right now. There's no right or wrong for documenting this or any memory keeping projects. That said, the really juicy part is in the action of actually going through the process of capturing it and making it visible in some way. 

A couple days ago I asked the Week In The Life™ + Day In The Life™ Community on Facebook to share some of their personal "reasons why" for this project. You're invited to join that community for support and encouragement. Here are a few examples: 

• Lauren : My mostly daily life pretty much looks the same day in and out, and we are a well oiled machine when it comes to schedules & routines. The daily routine only varies by minutes, and pretty much only meals & outfits are the only change in my day to day life. I get sad/frustrated that I feel like my life is on the same loop and there are days/weeks/months where I feel like I'm living in the Groundhog Day movie. But when I stop and REALLY capture the small details of one day, it makes it easier to identify what does actually change over time & makes me realize that, yes, life does change even if I don't notice it at the time.
• Michelle : It gives me the opportunity to be grateful for all of the little things in our everyday. It’s one of the reasons I do it on the same day as this community. No choosing a good or fun day to document. But finding the beauty in anyday. Good or bad. There’s always something to be thankful for.
• Sarah : It is so interesting to me how much the little stories and details change from year to year. We tend to forget the little stuff and it's wonderful to have those stories documented.
• Megan : DITL is the perfect combination of mindfulness and story. DITL (and WITL) is a practice in consciously living in the moment, being aware of all the things we often do just by habit or routine, and paying attention to what makes up our now. It may feel like every day is the same, or it may feel like life is moving too fast, depending on what season of life you are in right now, but regardless, DITL is a way to capture a complete moment of life as it is right now. You never know when life may change suddenly, or it may just be easy to miss the subtle changes that evolve over the years. One DITL is a valuable insight, but a series of DITLs over the years is a treasure.
• Julia : Because when you wake up from the blur of really young children you can look back and see how you survived. one day at a time!
• Barb : I am alone after raising my kids and a divorce. My days seem boring. But they go by so quick! And before you know it, a year or two have gone by and you wonder, “Where did the time go.” If wish I had a “book of days” where I could look back and see that the everyday boring stuff is the stuff I miss and want to remember. Like when I think of my childhood.... what I wouldn’t give to be able to remember the ordinary days. My goal this year is to “Build” a collection of memories. I can’t go back to the beginning, but I can start now to tell my everyday stories.
• Amanda : To remember and appreciate the details of my life that I would otherwise forget.
• Kathy : I always thought my days were pretty much the same day in and day out but when I look back at past DITL that I’ve done I’m so amazed at just how different they really are. I’m so glad for this project and how it helps me focus on all the small things in my life that sometimes end up being the big things and I have them documented.

Let's do this! 

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. I'll share my process and end result here on the blog within the next couple of weeks. 

Shop Day In The Life™ here. The digital version is available here.