Five reasons I have made a daily Instagram post for more than 3000 days
January 30th 2014 is the first day that I started to post one picture a day on Instagram. The rules were — and still are — simple:
- It has to be a picture I took that same day
- It can only be one picture per day
- It represents something I want to remember from that day
How did it start?
The beginning of me posting these pictures on Instagram came through a friend of mine. She found this page called 100 happy Days Challenge which motivated people to post one highlight of their day on social media for 100 consecutive days. We were five friends who started into this journey and from what I can remember everyone made it to the end. By that point I made a habit out of it and it felt natural to continue.
January 30 2014 — One day before an important work deadline and I was running on snacks from the vending machine at work.
How it works
As rituals go, this is a simple one — in theory. During the day I take as many pictures as I can or want. Whenever I see something that feels worthy of taking a picture — I take it. Sometimes it’s something big and momentous like when I saw the Tower Bridge in London for the first time.
Sometimes it can be something barely noticeable that for some reason has caught my eye on that specific day. This can be the empty bottles after the farewell-party before leaving California and moving to London earlier that same year.
Before going to sleep I scroll through the pictures, edit them to make them look nicer and decide which one I would post on my Instagram feed that day. Once this decision is made, I go to Instagram, create a post and add a couple of hashtags to it. Some of them are to increase visibility (yes, I like likes) and others are to add more information like the number of the days since I’ve started posting and the date.
I have set myself the rule of not posting pictures showing faces of people I know. This is to make sure I respect my friend’s privacy and don’t have to remove them afterwards. In general I try to avoid posting images with faces on it. When it’s a flower this is easier than if I want to post a picture of a busy market.
Why I still do it.
After having made it through the #100happydays-Challenge I found a few benefits that made me continue to post a daily picture every day:
1 — It’s a lightweight diary
At the end of a day, I go through the pictures I took and decide which one of them could represent the experiences I had. This is a simple way for me to reflect about the day and find something special about it. There are many days that seem relatively dull and finding something special can seem hard. For example the day at the office, where I spent my time at my desk, went to the same meeting rooms as usual, and the commute would be the same procedure as every day. On a day like this was the first time I got to get a good shot of a Yellow School Bus in California.
2 — It helps me to keep my eyes open wherever I go
As I got used to the “responsibility” of taking interesting pictures every day, I notice that I’m constantly scouting for something interesting or a composition that could make for a good picture. It helps me to be more attentive to what’s around me and also enjoy the little things in my surroundings. Like when I noticed the wine store selling plastic flowers dancing when the sun would shine in the middle of Zurich, right next to the office.
Dancing flowers — powered by the sun
I ended up buying one of them (on a different day) and that flower is still dancing in my mother’s kitchen window, whenever the sun shines at it.
3 — I can keep family & friend in the loop of what’s going on in my life
During the past six years I moved from Zurich to San Francisco, got married, became a parent, changed jobs three times, and moved to London. Saying that my family & friends are rarely where I am is an understatement.
Sharing the small things in my life with loved ones and the bigger things with people who I’ve drifted from are equally useful things my Instagram feed allows me to do.
Small things like getting a 3D printer
and big things like getting married
Getting married on the San Francisco bay
4 — It helps me improve my photography skills (I hope)
Looking back at the last 2300 days, I feel my pictures have become better in many aspects. Getting a good composition comes easier than it did in the beginning and I also learned a lot about getting more details out of pictures without overdoing it. Most of the days I’m using my iPhone to take pictures. Having to do with a fixed lens with limited capabilities, forces me to think more about composition than having a zoom-lens that gives me much more flexibility.
5 — I enjoy thinking about the memories
Scrolling through these pictures brings back memories of days that most probably wouldn’t have been as memorable without the picture. For example that day when the neighbors stopped by for a glass of wine and for the first time we exchanged more than the obligatory few words.
Glass of wine with the neighbors
It’s not always as easy to pick a picture
Some days it’s hard to pick a picture. Either because there are so many images I love and would like to become a part of my diary, or because there just wasn’t anything.
For the latter, I have taken my fair share of Tea & Biscuit pictures late in the evening.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe I’m able to inspire someone else to go on the journey to post one picture every day for a long period of time. Please leave feedback, a clap, and follow me on Instagram.
Do you have rituals that have become a part of your daily routine?
