May 09, 2021

Week In The Life™ 2021 | Bring On The Stories

We've taken another trip around the sun and arrived at the 2021 Week In The Life™ community documenting week.

As we kick things off today I'd like to share something I posted to Instagram this past weekend about this project:

Moments of joy. Moments of sadness. Moments of boredom. Moments of chaos. Moments of quiet. Moments where I had to go in my room + close the door because it was so darn loud. Moments that repeat. Moments that take my breath away. Moments that seemed annoying at the time. Moments of laughter. Moments of learning. Moments that will simply never exist again.

⁠⁠Back in 2005 I created an album project because I had agreed to teach an album class at a scrapbook magazine event (thank you Creating Keepsakes). I knew that I valued everyday life storytelling with an emphasis on the words + the photos so creating an album around those kind of stories seemed like a natural extension of what I was already documenting. ⁠⁠

Fast forward to 2021 and next week I'll be embarking on this project for the 16th time. Seven days. 168 hours. I'm so excited to see what stories I capture this time around. I love the invitation to get curious about my life right now and really pay attention to the rhythms + routines of what's real for me at this point in time. ⁠⁠

As I was getting ready for today's #weekinthelife Prep Day (details via my profile link) I carried all my albums from my office into my bedroom and laid them out on the floor before filming myself talking about the ways I've approached the project over the years. As I sat on the floor flipping through each one I thought to myself: this is my life reflected back to me via stories and photos. These albums are time capsules that include highs and lows and everything in between for seven days in a row each year.

⁠⁠I write about the basic stuff. I take photos of the basic stuff. It's what our lives are made of day to day to day. Worth the work of documenting? 100%.⁠

As you begin the process of capturing what's real in your life right now I want you to remember that there are no perfect photos, no perfect words, no perfect way to approach this project, and no perfect way to finish it. You can do this and it can be a really fun + enjoyable way to take a closer look at your life right now.

Over the years I've written a variety of posts related to this project (check out the full archives here). Here are a few of my favorites that might help you get your head + your heart in a mood for documenting:

I'll be sharing photos + reflections here on my blog each day starting on Tuesday of this coming week.

Let's do this!

#Week in the Life™