Between September 2007 and September 2008 I took a photo on our new digital camera every day in order to record a year in my life. Why did I do this?
I had experienced some life changing and life threatening events in rather close succession and wanted to track my return to “normal” life, whatever shape that took. At the same time I took the photo and printed it off I would make a few notes about what the photo meant to me on that day. So I hoped that by describing, recording and reflecting I would gain some sense of who I was following the upheaval and change.
With hindsight more time had to pass for me to process the events but several other benefits flowed from this project. I felt a real sense of satisfaction in keeping to a daily record of my life; it is a valuable record of that year when we are trying to remember something that happened at that time; I enjoyed developing my visual senses; I became more aware of light and its many qualities and nuances; it kept me in touch with life and a sense that life does move on, no matter what emotions need to be felt and what healing needs to occur; it reminded me of my love of the funny and quirky, of my cats and of nature, my family and friends.
My life feels very ordinary but my interest in family history has taught me time and again that records from the past of ordinary lives can offer huge amounts of valuable information that help us understand how life was years ago and increases our sense of connection to family from the past.
There are many ways that people record their lives. How do you record yours?
ordinarygoodness 