About two years ago, I stumbled upon an article written by a fellow blogger who set out to capture just one second of every day of her life for an entire year. What she did turned into a fascinating video diary experiment that took the most mundane everyday tasks and outings and mixed it in with the best moments of her life. After viewing her finished project, I wanted to try it for myself and see what a daily snapshot of my life would end up looking like come year’s end.
Like many people, over the years I’ve tried many versions of personal diaries to create mini time capsules of my life. Whether it was keeping an old shoebox full of past mementos, organizing photos into albums, or keeping a traditional diary — I can still remember my little pink fuzzy covered journal with the tiny golden lock where I would pencil in the highlights of my “Dear Diary” day, and even my failed attempt at scrapbooking, but I never considered trying to document my life in a video journal. Capturing one second every day of my life for one year was something that sounded intriguing.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was something I would stick to and knew it would be challenging, but then again, I’m always up for a good challenge. The next thoughts that swirled through my mind were, how could you pick just one second out of 24 hours that would be the one to best sum up your day, is one second even enough time to film a daily highlight, and lastly, what I feared the most was, what if my life was too boring to document?
So back to the question, “Can one little second every day captured over the course of a year add up to something interesting and unique?”. The only way to find out was to grab my iPhone, start filming, and find out.
After searching for an app to help me with this project, I settled on 1 Second Everyday (I have no affiliation with this app, but it is amazing and recommend for this project). The free version of the app uses a calendar format for you to upload a video snippet or a photo each day with the ability to add a caption to it. The upgraded Pro version will allow users to add multiple videos or photo clips per day and additional time to each clip. Users are able to create any length of project and can start with any day of the year. I chose to begin my project at the start of the year. When you are ready to create your year end video clip montage, there are options to add music and other features prior to downloading.
What did I end up learning from this project? Well, quite honestly, a lot. Considering the first year I tried this it was 2020, I learned that life as we know it can change in an instant and all of our well laid plans may unravel when we least expect them to. Never in a million years would I have thought Covid-19 would have had such a profound impact in our world and to document the changes happening that year was fascinating. In 2021 the journey continued, with my being able to document the reopening of society, the introduction of vaccines, safety spending time with friends again, and first trips back to exploring the world again.
I also learned that although taking a one second a day video sounded easy, there were days that I forgot to record and/or often felt that my daily work/life routine didn’t have any spectacular moments to document. This challenge helped me to understand that not all moments of one’s life have to be exciting, but the quieter and the every day moments — making meals, taking walks, and even my daily cup of coffee — are what makes us appreciate our daily routine, giving us a well-rounded and a well-lived life. It also showed me that I may like to cook and eat a lot — and perhaps write a few quotes along the way!
Although my life may not be as exciting as I would like it to be, it is authentically mine. So how did my 1 Second Everyday project turn out? It was not what I expected, but wonderful all the same – sort of like life. I normally don’t share my most private moments, but I will this time so that you can see what a finished project might look like, and perhaps to be inspired, like I was, to create your own project. What you capture and how many days you log are totally up to you. There are no wrong or right ways to create your “year in review”.
If you are game, I am going challenge you to try and see what 1 Second Everyday for a year will bring and I hope you discover how documenting your life can truly create something wonderful.
Drop a comment below if this is something you’ve every tried, or will try this year. Be sure to save, “Like”, “Tweet”, “Pin”, or “Link” this article to share with your friends and family.
