2017 is coming to a close and it’s almost time to welcome 2018 with open arms. We all know that with the new year comes new resolutions. Some may try and work out more and eat healthier. Others might want to start a new hobby, or obtain a new skill. Following through with a New Year’s resolution can be very fulfilling, however very few do so.
If you’re super sentimental like me, love to reminisce, and/or into taking photos or videos, journaling and other things alike, then I have an easy New Year’s resolution just for you. All you have to do is take a couple of minutes (or more if you want) out of your day. Here are five ways you can document your daily life starting in the new year!
1. Journaling/Keeping a Diary
If you like to write, journaling or keeping a diary may be the perfect thing for you. Each night before bed you can write about your day, your feelings, the person you’re crushing on and just decompress from the day. You can decorate the pages how you please to make it your own. Make sure to date each journal entry for when you look back once 2018 ends. You’ll be able to reminisce on the highs and lows you had throughout the year, and in a few years when you rediscover the journal and dust it off, you’ll be able to see how much you’ve grown as a person since.
2. “Q&A a Day” Journal
Just as you would keep a diary or journal, you can also keep a “Q&A a Day” journal. This journal has a question for you each day of the year that you answer as a two-to-three sentence journal entry. Questions range from “What was your last meal?” to “How could today have been better?” Better yet, this journal is designed to ask you questions for five years. You are asked the same question each year, depending on the month and day. The only thing that changes is the year and your answer. For example, January 1’s question is “What is your mission?” You’ll fill out that it’s 2018 and answer the question, and the following year you’ll put down that it’s 2019 and answer the question once again. Your answer might change, but that’s okay because, once again, throughout the five years you keep this journal, you’ll grow as a person.
3. Memory/Good Things Jar
You’ve probably seen this idea on Pinterest a countless number of times, but keeping one is so fun. Get a mason jar or any sort of container you can decorate and a sharpie. With the sharpie write “Good Things Jar” or “Memory Jar” on the jar, maybe decorate it with a bow, and keep a notepad close by it. Each day you can jot down something good that happened throughout the day and pop it into the jar to read the next few years. Maybe you got an A on your essay or test, or got to finally sleep in. Anything goes, just write it down. Again, make sure to write down the date!
4. One Picture of Each Day
If you’re like me, you love to take pictures. Maybe it’s with your Nikon or Canon, Polaroid Instax mini, disposable camera or even just your phone. Either way, capturing pictures is so fun, so why not do so each day? These pictures can be of anything. Take a picture of what you’re wearing each day. One day you might be wearing a dress for some event, and the next, sweatpants. Take a picture of yourself each day. You’ll be able to look back at those bomb makeup days, those barefaced days, your different hairstyles, that one annoying pimple you had back in March, and those cute freckles you get in the summer. It may seem weird to do, but it’ll be so cool to look back on your late teens and early twenties self when you’re older.
5. One Second Video a Day
There’s this app called 1SE which stands for 1 Second Everyday. This app has you take a video every day of whatever you’d like. You crop the video to take one second out of the video you took to incorporate into a video diary of the whole year. You can play back the whole year of these videos in a series of a couple of months, weeks, or just days. You can upload it to your socials for everyone to get a small taste of your daily life. Now, this app does cost $5.00, but it’s totally worth it to invest in. I personally don’t own any app that I had to pay for except 1SE, so that’s saying something.
Enjoy documenting your daily life starting in 2018 with these really simple New Year’s resolutions! Happy New Year’s!