I’ve been using Day One to capture the little moments of family life. Most days I add a few photos and a sentence or two about what we’ve been up to. Days out, holidays, funny or cute moments, even the mundane everyday stuff.
I have the Day One widget on my home screen which surfaces journal entries from today’s date in previous years.
I also use daily notes in Obsidian for journalling and use the On This Day plugin to surface entries from previous years.
Inspired by Austin Kleon, I’ve added an “On This Day” to my blog too. Posts published on this date in a previous year will show up below the post.
A few reasons why I enjoy looking back at previous years:
- When my daughter was born, friends often advised: be present and enjoy it because this phase doesn't last long. Which is true – and good advice – but really hard to do when you’re tired and stressed and not really sure if you’re doing things right. Capturing things in Day One and revisiting them later lets me appreciate moments I couldn't fully take in at the time.
- When you read journal entries from previous years, patterns emerge. Sometimes they’re uncannily similar: something I hadn't thought about in months, yet there it is in an entry from exactly a year ago. Perhaps it’s the seasonality of life, but the patterns are fascinating to observe.
- Occasionally I’ll read a previous entry and barely recognise the person who wrote it. It’s a reminder that we’re not fixed, our identities and opinions can and should change.