Looking back at a great year: 2015.

It was exactly 1 year ago that I made a very firm decision. I was inspired by a good friend of mine (really, though: November 28th in the video below) by how he had the dedication to do the same project, and I admired that. I wanted to do it too, I posted about it here on the blog, and I have basically spent the past 365 days working on it. Now, I want to share it with you.

Click to follow through to Cesar’s TED Talk – a quick lecture given by the creator of this idea and accompanying application. I’ve mentioned him several times on the blog, in relation to 1SE.

Most of the time we spend the first day of a new year looking forward. We make New Year’s Resolutions, we think about what’s coming in the following days, weeks, and months. But I’ve actually spent most of my day reflecting on what a great year 2015 has been. That’s been exceptionally easy – I haven’t had to rack my brain for hardly any memories – because I captured most of them on video.

Using the app “1 Second Everyday,” I captured 1 second (1SE) of my life, every. single. day. of the past year. It’s been eye opening to watch the 6 minute and 8 second video. While doing so, I identified a few trends…

I definitely spent the most time with my wonderful pup, Charlotte.
I ride the DC metro and hang in/around the city a lot, especially since moving to Northern Virginia in February.
I spend a lot of time behind screens – for better or for worse! That definitely changed later on in the year, intentionally.
The highlight of my year? Most likely the 2 weeks I spent in Austin for the SXSW Festivals! So much fun was jam-packed into those weeks in March, beginning on March 7th in the video.
I really enjoy live music and shows, apparently. I didn’t realize how much time I spent enjoying entertainment, live, from a stage – comedy, music, etc. One of the biggest highlights of my year was definitely crowd-surfing at Firefly!
I spent a lot of time with friends, in dark clubs. Those don’t make for the best 1SE’s but, I mean, work hard to play harder, right?
I really took heed of the push notification I would receive from the app that encouraged you to film what you’re eating!
In late October, you can definitely tell where I started to face a few health challenges and became a little more socially reclusive. This isn’t a bad a thing though! Looking back on this video, it’s things like this that show how accurate and honest I tried my best to be when filming my 1SE.

My favorite clips?

March 31st – Charlotte’s wink is just TOO adorable!
April 6th – That sunset, though!
August 7th – I was catching so much air! And I love those shoes, they were freshly shined hahaha
November 21st – Obviously, Enter Sandman.
November 28th – Obviously, energy from the one and only Josh. :)

Here’s the full video if you want to check it out:

It wasn’t easy remembering to film the 1SE every single day, but I used both the app and the iPhone’s built-in Reminders app to try and not forget. There were 2 or 3 days where I actually did forget to film something; but I didn’t want to completely lose those days. Instead, I used a more monotonous clip, something that I did on that day – just the next day or the day after. An example of this is how often I rode the Metro; that pretty much looked the same every single day.

I encourage you to try and do your own 1SE. Maybe it’s just for 1 month, or for the duration of planning a special event (instead of the commitment of doing an entire year). I think it’s great to have this to look back on and I definitely enjoyed the process. 1 last time: thank you, Cesar, for your great idea and all of the hard work that you put into this application!