First and foremost…
I have a feeling 2014 is going to be a good year 😀
So I had every intention of writing up a mini resolution/year in review post for you guys yesterday, but I had a pretty crappy day on Monday, which meant that my inspiration level was basically at zero, which meant that I couldn’t write a post to save my life — hence the impromptu blogging break. I’ll get around to doing it some other time though, because there’s something else I wanted to talk about today.
On January 1st, 2013, I started a memory jar chest project…
And one year later, I have a jar chest full of 365 good memories…
I can actually hardly believe that I managed to see this project through… I usually get really pumped to start something, but then go on to lose interest in it after a little while. Granted, there was more than one occasion where I slacked off for a few days and had to play catch up, but I still got all 365 days in there and I’m so happy that I stuck to it — being able to go back and read through all of the good things that happened in the past year has definitely been an eye-opener in terms of how beautiful life is; and spending time at the end of each day reflecting back on the positives of that day really helped me become happier in general… That’s why I’ll be doing it again in 2014, and I’d really love it if you joined me!
What it is…
Starting on the first day of the new year, take a moment at the end of each day to write down something good that happened that day on a little piece of paper. Fold the paper in half and put it in your jar. At the end of the year (or whenever you could use some cheering up), open the jar and read about all of the great things that happened to you that year.
What you’ll need…
An empty jar, chest, box, vase, etc… anything you can store your papers in.
Small pieces of paper. I would often use little scraps of paper (movie tickets, business cards, receipts, lists) that I picked up throughout the day to write my notes, but it’s always good to have a small notepad as a backup.
A reminder. It takes a while to turn the practice of reflecting back on your day into a habit, and a simple reminder really helps out. I put a sticky note on my mirror so that I’d always see it when I was washing my face at night.
. – . – . – .
That’s all! It’s super simple and hardly takes any time at all, but it really does go on to make a huge difference and I can’t recommend doing it highly enough. I know the blog let’s me look back at some of the things that have happened, but I don’t always share everything on Spoons, and it’s nice to have something a little more tangible to look back at.
I hope you guys had an amazing New Year’s Eve; I wish you only the best in the upcoming year; and I’ll see you tomorrow for Thinking Out Loud!
What did you do for New Year’s Eve?
What’s one goal/resolution you have for 2014?
And most importantly… will you be joining me in making a memory jar? 😀
I will so be joining you in making a memory jar. I have tried doing similar things in the past and they kind of fizzled out so I will definitely need to put up some reminders.
For New Years Eve I drank one too many ginger martini’s and played Cards Against Humanity. Fun but made today a little sluggish 🙂
I have quite a few resolutions. A few of them are… I want to become awesome at yoga, I would like to carve out a little time each day for this. I want to travel more this year. I also want to spend more time catching up with friends.
Happy 2014 Amanda!
Happy New Year, Jen! Remembering to do it everyday can definitely be a bit of a challenge, but it starts to become habit after a little while. I’ll do my best to remember to bring it up on the blog every week though.
The memory chest is such a good idea and I don’t know if you remember, but I started it with you last year. However, this is one challenge that I failed. I don’t think I even lasted a week. Oh well… good luck to you on completing it again this year. Hope your week will get much better and happy new year to you!
Sticking with it was definitely a bit of a challenge. There were a lot of times where I fell behind and had to play catch up, but I’m really grateful to have stuck with it, so fingers crossed I can do it again 😆
Happy New Year, Kim!
I love this idea!!! I’m going to join you for 2014 🙂
Such a great & positive idea. Love it, but I highly doubt I’d be as motivated as you to keep it up.
happy new year girl!!
Genius spoon! What a fantastic concept and idea! Although I don’t have a fancy box to put it in, I’ll definitely be on board to do something similar- what a great way to look through them- especially when you’re feeling subpar.
NYE = overrated. Wine= GROSS. Here’s to an amazing 2014 buddy.
What a great idea!!! I think that this is something I would very much enjoy!! Thank you for sharing such a neat way to remind ourselves of how great our lives really are.
P.S. Happy New Year!!! I look forward to reading your blog everyday. Thanks for being part of my daily relaxation time. 🙂
Awwr well thanks so much, Lisa. Happy New Year to you!
We had some new friends over for New Years. The kids played downstairs, we ate good food, and all stayed up until midnight (well, except for my 2 yr old)!
My resolution for 2014? Worry less and spend more time having fun (having friends over, going on little trips, etc). Sometimes I am too serious for my own good. 😉
Ah I absolutely LOVE this idea! Such a perfect thing to do in order to take just a few minutes each day to think about the positives that happened. Even if you think you’ve had a day that was just the absolute WORST, there is bound to be one little thing that made the day good. I think it’s a great way to reshape our mentality into focusing more on the positives when it can be just so easy to focus on the negatives.
I set a reoccurring event/alarm on my phone to remind me to do it at a given time each night! 🙂 Let’s do this, 2014!
One of my favourite quotes is “everyday may not be a good day, but there’s good in every day.” It’s definitely a little harder to find things to be grateful for on certain days, but those are the times where it helps the most.
Happy New Year, girl!
What a great idea! I do this in a much less pretty way – I just have a little journal that I jot down memories or things that make me smile each day. I’m like you though, I often have to play catch-up. Hopefully I can stick with it in 2014. Happy New Year!
This is such a good idea! I will definitely be doing this this year, thanks Amanda!
What a flipping phenomenal idea! I need to start something like this. Or at least start a WORD document where I just note everything I did each day… However, wouldn’t that be like a planner/to-do list? I am a list freak, so this could be good for me!!! See what you did, you got me brain storming!
XOXO Happy New Year 😀
Happy New Year, Amanda!
Confession: while I enthusiastically announced I’d create a memory jar myself, too, when you mentioned doing it last year … I failed. A missed day turned into two and then I stopped altogether one day – not proud of it. But I started adding those ‘happiness-inducers’ to my blog posts sometime last year so maybe that makes up for it a little? Anyway, writing these down and reminding myself of the little good things in my day every night before bed already made a huge improvement in my mood. So this year I’ll really (!) add the tangible element of writing these things down. Now I just need to find a pretty jar or cute little case.
i want a BIG chest. LOL, i mean, i want a big one to fill with these memories. Off to find one today!
Let me know if you find a big one… I could use one myself 😉
Yup – I definitely think I need to do this this year. It would definitely be nice for a rainy day! Happy New Years Love!!! <3
I’m doing the project! That is an amazing idea and it will help me with one of my New Year ‘s Resolutions that I posted today! 😀
This is such an amazing idea, Amanda! I’m sure it can come in handy when you’re feeling down or need some inspiration 🙂 I know it would be something that I would definitely not keep up though (I’m so bad with those sort of things!) so I will have to live vicariously through you! Happy 2014 – I know it’ll be a great one for you!
I love this idea! ESPECIALLY because of my awful memory, this will help cheer me up and make my year more memorable! I think I’m going to do a twist on this tho and write my daily memories in a special journal where I can reread and cherish my entire year! Thanks for the great idea!
I remember you mentioning those journals 🙂 Happy New Year to you, Alice!
I freaking adore this idea and really really REALLY want to do this. even if it is notebook that i write one good memory in a day. I think it will become my nightly practice. Hope you have a wonderful new year’s day!
Ahh what a great idea!
Memory jar is such a wonderful idea. I would love to say I am going to do one, but I know I will start it and forget about it in a few days! I’m terrible aren’t I?
😆 Not at all — it’s definitely a little hard to remember, which is why I put sticky notes on my mirror to remind me.
LOVE this idea! What a great way to remember all the good things that have happened over the year. Sometimes I think it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day and the crazy parts of our lives. What a fun way to remember all the good things!
Love this idea! It’s so cool that you can go back and pull out so many memories on a whim :). I had a friend who took a picture for 365 days, but this seems much more up my alley!
HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Happy New Year – I love saving things and loved making time capsules and scrapbooks as a kid. I still save sentimental little things now as well…Funny how we both had a not so great day on Monday. So hard to blog when life gets in the way, right? Hope you are doing well today and wishing us both a wonderful year ahead!
It’s almost impossible for me to blog on a bad day — I hope you’re having a better one today, lady <3 And I'm the same way with saving sentimental scraps... I still have boxes of things from high school 🙂
I LOVE this idea!!!
Happy New Year!!! I LOVE this idea! It’s such a great way to look back on positive things that happened 🙂
What a fun idea! My friend posted a picture of her 365 memories jar on Instagram yesterday as well. I am wary to start these kinds of things because I usually fall off the bandwagon sometime in the year, but it seems simple enough, and looking through them at the end of the year must be pretty awesome 🙂
We went out to eat at our favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner last night and then we just chilled out at home, watching the ball drop on the ol’ telly.
One goal for 2014: To live for now. So cliché, but I really do need to do it.
*All* 365 days!?! That’s amazing! I don’t know if I would be so successful, but I think I’m going to give it a go anyway. Sometimes you need reminders of what makes my life special.
Matt and I went out for dinner at Noodles and Co., and then headed to see American Hustle! WE can home and just relaxed in our comfies before ringing in the new year with Pinot Grigio (for me) and mead (for my man). We put in Star Wars, but I ended up falling asleep! I actually picked a word – Simplify – instead of setting goals/resolutions. I love making changes throughout the year so making them on January 1 always feels a little funny! Lastly, and NO joking, I’m going to make this jar right now. Thank you so much for the idea!
I’m not big on resolutions either — I’d much rather have a word or phrase to live the year by. Happy New Year to you Kelsey!
I love this idea!!!! I really want to do something like this! The chest idea is so cute compared to a jar, thank you for sharing this. I think I will take this on this year!!!
I LOVE this! What a way to be thankful for your life and all the good moments. I’m going to give this a try—I don’t know if I’ll be able to do 365 days (juuuust being honest) but I’m going to try! Happy New Year, Amanda!
Happy New Year Amanda!
Love this idea! I may steal it and adapt it for use in the classroom (students could write one thing they learned that day.) For over 8 years a friend and I have been e-mailing each other daily gratitudes. Some days I have several to choose from, other days I struggle to come up with something but I am always able to find at least one bright spot. I love how it forces me to focus on the positive. As much as I appreciate this daily exercise I must admit there are many times when I send off an e-mail and promptly forget what I wrote. Having a memory vessel would be a tangible reminder. Count me in!
This year I want to take risks. “Everything you want is right outside your comfort zone.” I rarely regret action, even when it is unsuccessful but I always regret inaction. Fear can be paralyzing but I do not want to merely exist because I feel more comfortable eating “safe” foods and never eschewing exercise.
A few months ago I moved to Pasadena, California. Today is the annual Rose Parade and 800,000 people are expected to converge on the city. I live just a few blocks from the parade route so I am going to try and check it out but since the route has been filled with people camping out for almost 2 days I’m not sure I’ll be able to see anything. I’ve never been a fan of parades but there is an excitement in the air. I may go look at the floats up close at a viewing this afternoon.
Hope everyone has a very healthy and happy 2014!
E-mailing daily gratitudes for over 8 years? That’s amazing, Sarah! I hope you had an awesome day at the parade, and Happy New Year to you!
Thank you Amanda!
Happy New Year, Amanda! That’s a fantastic idea and I love it! I am going to try it 🙂 I went out to a friend’s house for new years and had a great time! I’m quite tired now though haha
A memory jar sounds like a fantastic idea. I haven’t made any legit goal/resolution..I’m trying not to stress as much as I did in 2013 which means putting little pressure on myself. I think my goal as off right now would be to start and build up a memory jar for 2014 🙂
I’m not big on resolutions either, but this is one of those projects that I definitely try to stick to. Happy New Year!
I’ve been thinking of doing this or something similar like a gratitude jar! So cool you did it the whole year 🙂
Yes, I think I will. I started doing something like that on twitter, but I think the physical aspect of it will be better for me! Happy new Year!
Amanda – this is such an awesome idea! I am not big on resolutions, but this sounds like something I would love to do and I know my daughter would too – thank you!
Last night my daughter and I did what we always do – watch Dick Clark’s Rocking New Years Eve on the telly and toast at midnight with Sparkling Welches 🙂
Hoping 2014 is fabulous in every way for you sweet lady!
What a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing. I’m sure some days it will be very challenging to find something to write.
Happy New Year. So glad I found your blog late 2013! Looking forward to posts and sharing life with you this year.
Some days are definitely a little more challenging than others, but it really makes you focus on seeing the good in everyday, which I’ve found really helps increase your overall level of happiness. Give it a try 🙂
Love, love, love, love this… I may just need to start this up! 🙂
I’ve always wanted to do something like that. I think this might be the year I do. Thanks for sharing!
It’s seriously awesome to be able to look back at the end of the year and reminisce — and it only takes a few minutes a day.