This is it. My last entry for the year. I'm amazed that the experiment is nearly over. Not only can I not believe that I've written nearly 365 entries (I know I must have missed a few) for this blog, I can't believe Kate and I managed to come up with topics for the 750-some entries between us.
It wouldn't be true to say that it seems like just yesterday that we started the blog. Granted the year flew by, but I was aware of the passage of time, and I think both of us were always aware of the obligation we made to each other. We were always focused on making sure our blog entries got written each day. And I can remember all of the ofttimes difficult brainstorming sessions, when entry ideas weren't low hanging fruit.
But here we are, 365 days after we started our experiment, poised at the precipice of completion. Has the experiment been a success? That's a hard question to answer. No, I'm not so sure how much my outlook on life has changed as a result of the blog. I still find myself leaning pessimistic sometimes. And, oddly enough, sometimes the process of focusing on the positives of life made the negatives stand out in stronger relief. So I can't say that I've shifted from half-empty to half-full in general, but I can say that I'm more aware of the dichotomy.
That's what I'm taking from this. I think I still favor half empty glasses of milk sometimes, but I've discovered how many half full glasses are out there. And I'm more aware of when I veer towards pessimism and can course correct sometimes. And anytime you become more self-aware, you've made positive progress.
But really more than anything this experiment has helped me realize how much I enjoy writing, and that's a benefit I wasn't expecting. I feel at least that I've gotten better over the course of the year, and realized how important it is for me to get my thoughts out into the written word. And, as a corollary, I've discovered how much I have to say, and how much I'd like to be able to influence public discourse. The more that I write about the issues that are important to me, the more I discover that needs to be said.
So maybe I'm entering a new phase of activism for the public good. If I don't lose momentum I can see that as my logical next-step. And I think it will feel really good, writing in an effort to affect change. We'll see. On that front, who knows how powerful this blog experiences has been?
I am sorry to see it end. I won't miss the constant pressure to write daily entries, but I will miss the routine. So keep following us. We may not enter as often in the coming year, but we may keep up the practice. Happy New Year!!
Showing posts with label A Year of Positives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Year of Positives. Show all posts
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
How is There an Overage?*
An aside first. This entry will be our 707th entry for the year. There are 365 days in 2009, which should equate to 730 entries between Kate and I by years end. But starting tomorrow we have 24 more day in the year. That's 48 additional entries added to the 707 already existing, for a grand total of 755 entries. To my knowledge we've never written extra entries. In fact Kate missed one or two while traveling in New York a few months ago without a computer or internet access. So how did we manage to write 25 extra entries? That's just over two extra entries a month (which I guess is potentially just one extra entry a month from each of us.)
I thought we'd been keeping pretty careful track of entries, making sure not to miss any if at all possible. I guess in our effort to stay current we ended up unwittingly writing a lot of unnecessary, extra entries...actually...hold on one second. I'll be right back.
[Jaunty music, popular in your day plays while you wait.]
Okay...nevermind. I'm not going delete everything I've just written because I took the time to write it, but it's totally wrong. It occurred to me (right before the jaunty music started) that there might be some unpublished drafts hanging out in total, and there were. And 28 of them were copies of the same draft that resulted from a Blogger error months ago. There were 33 total drafts, dropping our projected total at the end of the year to 722. So in fact we've missed eight entries for the year. Surprising, but nothing to feel disappointed over, considering the total number that were written. I feel better now. The riddle has been solved and I've set history straight.
On to my positive for this evening...
We've only missed eight entries out of our 730 entry goal (assuming we don't miss anymore, and I don't think we will)! I feel pretty good about that.
*There isn't. And I guess the above "aside" wasn't an aside at all. Sorry for all the misrepresentations. I'll turn the music back on if it will make you feel any better.
I thought we'd been keeping pretty careful track of entries, making sure not to miss any if at all possible. I guess in our effort to stay current we ended up unwittingly writing a lot of unnecessary, extra entries...actually...hold on one second. I'll be right back.
[Jaunty music, popular in your day plays while you wait.]
Okay...nevermind. I'm not going delete everything I've just written because I took the time to write it, but it's totally wrong. It occurred to me (right before the jaunty music started) that there might be some unpublished drafts hanging out in total, and there were. And 28 of them were copies of the same draft that resulted from a Blogger error months ago. There were 33 total drafts, dropping our projected total at the end of the year to 722. So in fact we've missed eight entries for the year. Surprising, but nothing to feel disappointed over, considering the total number that were written. I feel better now. The riddle has been solved and I've set history straight.
On to my positive for this evening...
We've only missed eight entries out of our 730 entry goal (assuming we don't miss anymore, and I don't think we will)! I feel pretty good about that.
*There isn't. And I guess the above "aside" wasn't an aside at all. Sorry for all the misrepresentations. I'll turn the music back on if it will make you feel any better.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Shout it Out Ellen!!
Alright, I finally did it! I sent a letter to the Ellen Degeneres Show about our blog. It feels good to get it out there, how wonderful it would be if she talks about it on air. Even though a lot of my entries are boring I still think we both have accomplished an amazing feat by keeping this going so long. I feel more positive and confident and would love to see others try this out. It's a great way to get each day going on a positive note.
Here's the letter. I wish I had cracked more jokes, like "check out my awesome entry on cheese" or 80s music for some deep thinking.
Dear Ellen,
Hi my name is Kate and like many I am a huge admirer of yours and your show puts a smile on my face everyday.
I wanted to share with you something my boyfriend, Jason and I have been doing for the past 9 1/2 months that has really changed our perspective on life. Jason had the idea of starting a blog that we would begin the beginning of 2009 where everyday each of us would write an entry about any positive aspect in our life. The entries can be any length. We've now written over 500 entries and it's really remarkable to us that we've kept this going so long. We've both really grown through this experiment. Jason has really grown as a writer and even through my writing isn't up to par with his I do feel I've grown into a much more happier person. Our subjects range from our entertainment loves (you've definitely been mentioned in a few of mine), to our food cravings, to how grateful we are for our wonderful family and friends, to overcoming life challenges (such as losing my job six months ago). Jason's entries can be crazy scientific sometimes, but that's what he loves and why I love him. It would be amazing to see Jason's entries published one day, his writing is very profound.
I wanted to share this life experiment with you and with as many others as I can. It's been a challenge to think of a new topic everyday, but we somehow find positivity in something everyday. I feel if life's getting you down, this is a great way to test yourself in becoming a more positive thinker.
Thanks so much,
Kate
The address is:
http://positiveyear.blogspot.com/
Here's the letter. I wish I had cracked more jokes, like "check out my awesome entry on cheese" or 80s music for some deep thinking.
Dear Ellen,
Hi my name is Kate and like many I am a huge admirer of yours and your show puts a smile on my face everyday.
I wanted to share with you something my boyfriend, Jason and I have been doing for the past 9 1/2 months that has really changed our perspective on life. Jason had the idea of starting a blog that we would begin the beginning of 2009 where everyday each of us would write an entry about any positive aspect in our life. The entries can be any length. We've now written over 500 entries and it's really remarkable to us that we've kept this going so long. We've both really grown through this experiment. Jason has really grown as a writer and even through my writing isn't up to par with his I do feel I've grown into a much more happier person. Our subjects range from our entertainment loves (you've definitely been mentioned in a few of mine), to our food cravings, to how grateful we are for our wonderful family and friends, to overcoming life challenges (such as losing my job six months ago). Jason's entries can be crazy scientific sometimes, but that's what he loves and why I love him. It would be amazing to see Jason's entries published one day, his writing is very profound.
I wanted to share this life experiment with you and with as many others as I can. It's been a challenge to think of a new topic everyday, but we somehow find positivity in something everyday. I feel if life's getting you down, this is a great way to test yourself in becoming a more positive thinker.
Thanks so much,
Kate
The address is:
http://positiveyear.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
This Blog Should Be Counted
I think it's safe at this point to make a comment about the progress off this small experiment, as we're nearly eight months in. And I definitely think it's fair to place this blog into itself as a uniquely positive experience.
Is it positive in the way we expected? I won't speak for Kate. For me, the jury's still out. I don't know that I'm generally more optimistic than I was before we began. I always imagined, when we started this, that we'd be searching for our topics each day, throughout the day, thereby creating a habit that would continue on after the year was complete. That doesn't happen. Generally Kate and I come up with our topics sitting in front of the computer. Not always, but most of the the time. And that is a practice that will end when the year is finished. So I'm not sure that the sort of lasting benefit we imagined at the start of this blog will be realized. At least not in the totality we were hoping for.
However, there are several other benefits that we didn't expect that we've reaped in spades. For me, the opportunity to write everyday has been enormously beneficial. I feel like I've grown a good deal (I hope) in my writing abilities, in my understanding of the process, and in my ability to share my thoughts. Never in my life have I had the opportunity to do so much writing on so many topics. Nor have I ever had the proper motivation to do that sort of work. Writing, in the past, say in school or at work, has often felt like a chore. And while I've always been good at business writing, I've only recently had the chance to develop a more conversational style. I'm really liking it, and I'd like to continue blogging in some form after this year is over.
Another benefit has been in our relationships with friends and family. I feel like we've gotten closer to a lot of people through this process, as we share pieces of ourselves. I can't tell you how often one of us has started a story with someone we know, only to realize that our friend's already heard about it because of the blog. It's really nice to know that people are reading it and that people are enjoying it. It would be much harder to do this everyday if we thought we were writing to a brick wall.
But probably more than all of these, writing the blog has helped clarify things in our own minds. It's been a good tool to shed light on ourselves for ourselves. I always laugh at the concept of "getting to know yourself". If there's anyone you should know everything about, it's you. But it's just not the case. Your brain has a way of obfuscating and muddling your own thoughts in such a way that sometimes you can't really be sure how you feel about things. But the truth is that you do know. You simply, for one reason or another choose to fool yourself. But getting things out on paper helps peel away the layers and get at the heart of things. Writing can be a great tool for self-discovery or, more precisely, calling yourself on your own shit. By writing daily on positive things, it's forced me to look at what I really love about life and what doesn't matter. That's probably the biggest benefit of all.
Is it positive in the way we expected? I won't speak for Kate. For me, the jury's still out. I don't know that I'm generally more optimistic than I was before we began. I always imagined, when we started this, that we'd be searching for our topics each day, throughout the day, thereby creating a habit that would continue on after the year was complete. That doesn't happen. Generally Kate and I come up with our topics sitting in front of the computer. Not always, but most of the the time. And that is a practice that will end when the year is finished. So I'm not sure that the sort of lasting benefit we imagined at the start of this blog will be realized. At least not in the totality we were hoping for.
However, there are several other benefits that we didn't expect that we've reaped in spades. For me, the opportunity to write everyday has been enormously beneficial. I feel like I've grown a good deal (I hope) in my writing abilities, in my understanding of the process, and in my ability to share my thoughts. Never in my life have I had the opportunity to do so much writing on so many topics. Nor have I ever had the proper motivation to do that sort of work. Writing, in the past, say in school or at work, has often felt like a chore. And while I've always been good at business writing, I've only recently had the chance to develop a more conversational style. I'm really liking it, and I'd like to continue blogging in some form after this year is over.
Another benefit has been in our relationships with friends and family. I feel like we've gotten closer to a lot of people through this process, as we share pieces of ourselves. I can't tell you how often one of us has started a story with someone we know, only to realize that our friend's already heard about it because of the blog. It's really nice to know that people are reading it and that people are enjoying it. It would be much harder to do this everyday if we thought we were writing to a brick wall.
But probably more than all of these, writing the blog has helped clarify things in our own minds. It's been a good tool to shed light on ourselves for ourselves. I always laugh at the concept of "getting to know yourself". If there's anyone you should know everything about, it's you. But it's just not the case. Your brain has a way of obfuscating and muddling your own thoughts in such a way that sometimes you can't really be sure how you feel about things. But the truth is that you do know. You simply, for one reason or another choose to fool yourself. But getting things out on paper helps peel away the layers and get at the heart of things. Writing can be a great tool for self-discovery or, more precisely, calling yourself on your own shit. By writing daily on positive things, it's forced me to look at what I really love about life and what doesn't matter. That's probably the biggest benefit of all.
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