100 happy days: what I learned from this project.

I cheated a few times and I didn't take actual photos a few times, but otherwise I mostly stuck to the photo-a-day for the 100 happy days project.

In hindsight, the challenge itself is a bit misleading - "can you be happy for 100 days in a row?" These 100 photos were moments in time each day when I was happy. Almost all the photos were chosen in retrospect and posted in time-delay fashion, except for Day 1 (the last day) which I staged as soon as I had the first draft of the final week ready, because I was really realllly reeeeeaaaalllllly ready to be done with this project. Some days I only had one photo, other days I had to choose between quite a few. Each day's photo was chosen because it made me laugh, smile, or just appreciate where I was or who I was with.

However, I can confidently say that I have not been "happy for 100 days in a row." (Actually, I have probably been more cranky over the last 100 days than in all of the 330 days leading up to Day 100.) The cynic in me doesn't think it's possible - or even reasonable - to ask someone to be "happy for 100 days in a row". The pessimist in me says that anyone who says they've been happy for the last 100 consecutive days is either lying or selling something.

That said... Many times during this project, I looked back at prior weeks of happy moments and realized, as the study results suggest, just how lucky I really am. And recently when I've been cranky I drift over to that "lucky" headspace more automatically than before. It doesn't always happen, and it doesn't always help, but it's a good habit to practice.

In other results, what was reinforced for me during this project:

• nature, artsy things, goats, and good food make me happy
• I am so glad I learned to let go of bad memorabilia (photos of exes, high school diaries, mix tapes from those dark years) - I used to think that re-examining those memories from time to time was therapeutic when in fact it's just not healthy
• be present! - sometimes it's hard to retrospectively think of something that made you happy (especially when you aren't taking 100+ photos a day), so you'd best recognize it the second it happens, before the moment is lost

And new things I have learned from this project:

• I don't need to do any more "100 day" projects

There are probably other important lessons but I've invested enough time in this for now. Thanks for indulging me.