Thoughts On Week In The Life™ | Getting Ready
On Monday (
or starting on Sunday) many of you will join me in embarking on documenting a week in your very own life. A week that will include highs and lows. A week that will include meals and work and people and emotions. A week that will include the regular stuff of life and little surprises along the way. A week of your life as it exists right now.
Week In The Life™ isn't about taking a photo of every single thing in your life for seven days in a row. You could totally do that if you wanted to - strap a GoPro to your head and go for it. Taking that many photos just creates a new problem for many people - how in the heck do you use all those photos? Find your own rhythm with your photos. I always end up taking more at the beginning of the week and less at the end - it's just how it goes for me and I'm okay with that.
Week In The Life™ is about looking for the patterns and stories via the lens of your camera and the words you write down. Look for stories as you carry your camera around. What are the things that make up the piece of your life?
When I first started
Week In The Life™ I focused quite a bit on making sure I wrote stuff down throughout the day. The last few years I've written less during the day and more in the evening at the end of the day as I reflect back on what's happened and looked through my photos to post on my blog. As I look through the photos from my day stories I might not have really seen become visible - things that might be beyond the surface. Again, I'm looking for routines, for rhythms, for patterns, and for the pieces that make my life mine.
My goal, as always, is to capture, via words and photos, the season of my life right now. Not your season, not my parents season, not my kids season (even though that is a part of the story) -
mine. We, you and me, are the main characters in our stories. Remember that as you go about your week.
You can do this.
As I mentioned recently in another post, I chose this particular week this year because I would have the kids for a portion of the week. In all my past albums I've chosen dates when my kids were here but that's the not full story of my life. This year I want to tell more of the other story - the story of what it's like when they aren't here with me. Please know that this is not a sad story - it's just a piece of my whole story (which is my One Little Word® for this year and feels fully appropriate). I'm excited to document this piece in this way.
My hope is to capture the things in my life that bring me joy and make me me outside of my role as Mom.
You can read my 2015 intention here for a different perspective on what I was looking to document last year.
1. SET AN INTENTION AND/OR HAVE A REASON WHY // What do you want to focus on this year? What is your reason for doing this project this time around? What are you most excited about capturing? Why are you taking time out of your precious life to make this project a priority? Write it down somewhere you can see it as a reminder to yourself.
2. NARROW YOUR FOCUS // After you figure out your reason why, consider narrowing your focus. For some people the concept of documenting a week is just too broad and the broadness holds them back from doing anything at all. In the Week In The Life™ Facebook Group one of the community members (Carolyn) is doing six photos from six different themes each day (family, play, everyday, nature, enjoy, work). For me, I want my focus to be more broad but if that idea helps you get a handle on this project then run with it. As with all the projects I embark on I encourage you to make it work for you. Keep in mind that narrowing your focus might just mean getting clear on your intention for this project.
3. REVIEW PAST WITL PROJECTS // Even just flipping though them will remind you what you loved, didn't love and what you want to do the same or different this time.
4. IF YOU ORDERED THE KIT, OPEN IT UP // I took some time today to open up the kit packages, look through the cards and get my page protectors in order. This helps me think a bit in advance about how things will flow within the album even before the week begins.
5. TAKE IT DOWN A NOTCH // Don't worry about how many or how your living room looks or what kind of camera you have or whether you stay at home or go to work every day or on and on. Use what you have right now to capture your life right now. No stress, just documentation.
6. DOWNLOAD THE DAILY SHEETS // People have been using these for a number of years now to help document the days. They are a great starting point for learning how to write stuff down over the course of the week and then the content can be transferred to your album later.
Download the 6x8 version here.
Download the 8.5x11 version here.
7. GET YOURSELF IN THE STORY // You are the main character in this story and your story is worth telling. This project is an awesome opportunity to play with self-portraits using the timer on your camera (iPhone, DSLR, etc). Use this as an opportunity to practice getting yourself in the story - either by making it happen for yourself or by asking others to take photos of you as well.
8. PURCHASE A LAYERED TEMPLATE SET AND/OR WORD ART // For those of you who are digital or a combination of digital and physical don't forget to check out the new layered template sets and word art that became available last week. I'll be using the 6x8 set as the base for my opening and closing page each day.
Week In The Life™ 6x8 Layered Template Set No. 3 (also available in 8.5x11 and 4x6)
Week In The Life™ Messy Circles Filled (also available in an outline version) - this includes the entire month of May in case you are doing different days than me
Here's some past posts I've written to get you in the mood - they really get to the heart of the matter:
Week In The Life™ Photo Tips
Our Days Are Built With Stories
What Stories Will You Tell
Check out all my past Week In The Life™ posts via my archive here.
Past "Getting Ready" Posts: 2015, 2014, 2013 (there are more that you can access via the archives if you want to go back farther - I personally think the more recent ones are more valuable)
On Monday morning I'll share a ready, set, go post and then on each of the following seven days I'll share my personal photos and words here on my blog. In the following weeks I'll share how I use the Week In The Life™ kit + the digital supplies to bring my words and photos together with intentional embellishments.
My friends, you can do this.
