#100daysoftoomanyfrigginprojects

Lately I've been admiring the collections of photos on Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #100happydays. Frame after frame of all the lovely things of daily life, filtered and Instagrammed into near-perfection. The premise is great - seriously, how can you NOT have time for happiness? I loved it so much I decided to take on the challenge myself.

I lasted two days.
Then I bitterly uninstalled the photo editor on my phone and proclaimed myself a failure.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Everyone else is capable of doing this very simple thing except for YOU, Doubt whispered in my ear. If I can't take one lousy picture a day for 100 days, what does that say about me? How will I ever manage to do anything worthwhile?

I came to the dawning realization that adding yet another project to my over-extended schedule of things to do wasn't going to make me any happier. On the contrary, it was making me feel worse.

So how's about I just drool all over everyone else's pretty pictures and leave it at that?

Before these "happy days" were all the rage, my friend Steph did a magnificent job with a Photo-A-Day project from FatMumSlim. Here are some of her totally awesome shots:

Sensing a theme here? #lovewine

I have always admired Steph for her creativity (also talented in painting, sketching, blogging about far-off places, and teaching little kids) but I found myself particularly floored by this latest undertaking. The perseverance required to find beautiful images in some of the most unlikely places every single day, especially on those days where I'm sure she had no interest in taking pictures at all, left me awestruck.

I could have jealously coveted her collection of photos and beaten myself up for not doing something equally amazing. Instead, I chose to simply be inspired by them. Thanks for sharing, Steph.

The moral of the story here is that I can't keep measuring myself against the successes of others, nor can I force my style to fit into somebody else's unique mould.

Even if my #100happydays don't roll out in a hashtagged, linear fashion for all the world to see, I'm not worried. They're still keeping a smile on my face.