december success with steph clay
Do you get overwhelmed when you think about documenting the holiday season? My good friend Steph Clay was feeling just that way three years ago. She decided to find a way to document the things she was grateful for throughout the holidays without feeling like it was too much. I am completely inspired by this project and I think you will be too. I'll let Steph take it from here!
Is this time of year difficult for you? I’m Steph Clay from Modern Photo Solutions and I have a confession: the Christmas season is really hard for me. I know that for a lot of people it is a very magical and wonderful time of year, but it hasn’t always been that way for me. I know I’m not alone in that sentiment.
While I always admired the December Daily™ project that has been popularized and trademarked by Ali Edwards, I simply wanted to crawl into the fetal position and cry at the thought of attempting to undertake such a task.
Ali describes her project as documenting one story each day, December 1st through the 25th. This always felt like too much for me during a season that is already really busy, stressful, and emotionally challenging. I couldn't even bear the thought of taking it on.
This changed for me in December of 2014, three years ago, during a time in my life when things were extremely difficult. More difficult than they ever had been. I yearned for something to help keep my focus on what really matters most to me and what matters most during the holidays for me. I needed something to help me see the good in my life at that time.
Over Thanksgiving of that year, I decided I was going to do my own kind of December project. I had no idea at that time how much impact this project would have on my life.
In December of 2014, the Project Life App had just been out for a few months and I had had a lot of success with documenting memories using apps. My phone made documenting fast and it was simple. I started to realize that I could probably do a December project, even a daily December project, and have it be successful if I used these tools and kept it simple. I decided to name my project December Success and I shared my results on social media using the hashtag #DecemberSuccess and encouraged others to join in if they felt inspired.
The best decision I made was to just focus on one thing each day that brought me happiness or joy in that moment, or something that I was thankful for. That was my guiding theme.
I wasn't going to try and make it about a Christmas-related event every day. I don't do holiday activities every single day in December. It was important to me to not put any additional pressure on myself. My hope was that by capturing that ONE piece of gratitude or joy each day, that it would help me stay on focus and bring some of the peace and joy back to the Christmas season. If I had more than one, I included them, but my goal was just ONE.
There are multiple studies that show focusing on the happy times and remembering them helps us feel more joy. Research also shows that true gratitude creates joy. I found both of these to be true through this experiment.
I didn’t make rules for myself on this project. That was important for me to be successful, to avoid overwhelm, and gain something from the project emotionally, as well. As I worked through the month of December, I did realize a few things that worked really well for me, that I still use today.
It’s not a requirement to get a page done each and every day. Sometimes I batch process several days at once if I have a chunk of time. I'm not going to punish myself and tell myself that I'm a failure if I'm not doing one page every single day.
Keeping my layouts visually similar reduces time spent making design choices. I use a few basic templates over and over and just switch out cards and photos. That kept me focused on documenting the things I was grateful for and happy about, which was the whole point.
I don’t worry about using holiday themes on my pages. I focus more on using cards that match my photos and the themes I’m documenting.
The Project Life App is my main workhorse. I also use a few other apps such as PicStitch, Over, LetterGlow, and the Rhonna Designs app. I like to add QR codes to link to video memories. I also enjoy downloading online images of relevant movie posters or events that are included on my pages.
I let the project change and evolve as I change and my life changes. The past two years, I’ve included a lot more photos of moments and things I felt gratitude for. This year, I am thinking I will probably zoom in on just one or two things again like I did in 2014.
I am thrilled to say that I was successful in this project! I completed the entire month and by focusing on the positive things each day, it really did help me feel happier during that Christmas season. I felt peace that I hadn't felt for a really long time and I didn't get consumed by the overwhelm that I usually felt during this time of year.
At the end of that December (2014), I went a few days into January without working on this project and I really, really missed it a lot. I decided to keep doing it every single day and see if I could do it for the whole entire year. Guess what? I completed an entire year of this project! It was no longer only a December success, it was an everyday success.
After reflecting on what these projects have meant to me, I have refined the names and hashtags a bit. I’ve realized that the act of documenting something happy each day (no matter what season it is) makes a huge difference in the amount of gratitude I feel in my life. I’m now calling my holiday project (which I start with Thanksgiving and end on the last day of the year) Gratitude in the Season and I will use the hashtag #gratitudeintheseason on social media. For the remainder of the year, my project is called Gratitude in Each Day and I will use the hashtag #gratitudeineachday when I share online.
What started as a simple little project to get me through a difficult time ended up being a lasting life lesson. There's always something to be grateful for. You have to remember that life isn’t always about the exciting stuff. That’s important to remember during the holiday season when so much of the emphasis is on making magical, amazing memories. Take some time to focus on the joy in every day. I bet you will find it changes your holiday season for the better as well.
You can hear (or read) more about Steph’s journey in documenting life and gratitude in the “December Project For the Overwhelmed” episode of her Modern Photo Solutions Podcast. Earlier this year I joined Steph on the podcast to discuss all of the ways documenting makes life more sweet.
Check out Steph’s classes, including her very popular FREE class, to help you get your photos automatically backed up and organized.
Are you thinking this is a project for you? Remember that you can easily print a Photo Book straight through the app and have it in your hands shortly after December is over!
Photos by AshMadsenPhoto; Handlettering by Aubree.Larsen; Supplies are Project Life, Sahlin Studio (The-LilyPad.com), and Brittish Designs.