The Happier podcast had a new challenge: Take a picture every day of something that makes you happy.
That's a cool idea, I thought. I have my phone with the camera and I'll just take pictures. And then I started thinking about it. I don't take pictures very often to begin with. A couple of years ago, there was some challenge out there to simply take one picture a day and I failed that miserably.
Frequently, I don't even think about taking a photo until well after the fact. Sometimes well after the fact. This has happened more times than I can count.
Sometimes I do think about taking a picture, but my phone is either 1) at my desk 2) in my bag 3) somewhere totally inaccessible in that moment. The desk one happens to me at work. Like every year Delta Technical Operations purchases and assembles bikes for Toys for Tots. There are all sizes from the tiniest child to young adult and these bicycles line the main hallway every December. I like to take a picture of it to share on Facebook or Twitter, but I don't think about bringing my phone with me until I see the bikes.
While the bikes certainly fall into the Things That Make Me Happy category, they're long gone now and children are (hopefully) happily riding them. That wouldn't have counted for the challenge anyway, though, since it's supposed to be 2017 things.
Sometimes I think we can too caught up in recording everything with a photo that we forget to experience the moment. Experiences should be felt, not merely photographed. But in all honesty the primary reason I decided not to do it was that I knew I'd fail and that wouldn't make me happier. Maybe someday I'll give it a shot, but for now, I'll just focus on things I have a chance of accomplishing.
