Hitting the benchmark of Day 25 of my #100DaysofConfessions Instagram project over the last four weeks has been quite an exhilarating, adventuresome ride! Within these past 25 days, we have all collectively explored four continents as artists, photographers, teachers, musicians, students, perfumers, foodies, writers, designers and have even been proposed to in the middle of a beach in Deba! The greatest takeaways from my quarter journey thus far are: people and their stories matter and people are generally open to sharing their narratives when the request is coming from a place of genuine interest in wanting to truly understand what their personal journeys and processes have meant to them.
There have been many days during this project where I’m anxiously scrambling behind the scenes to find my next story and subject for the day. There have been many times where I’ve faced disappointments and setbacks with staying on a consistent schedule – currently a day behind my intended challenge and posting at all sorts of random hours whenever stories trickle in! There’s been lots of work with researching and selecting subjects and formulating creative questions that would entice enough interest in them as well as trust in me to deliver their personal memories. There are countless other aspects in my process from editing the final pieces to taking up fluid Emoji as a second story-telling language on Instagram that will take a full day to recount but nonetheless, all of these elements further add to the excitement and passion I have for this project.
One of the key lessons anyone learns once hitting the open road is embracing the element of being flexible as unpredictability will certainly become one of your bedfellows. This wouldn’t be an adventure if the process was perfect. What has positively surprised me the most is the amount of collaborative, creative synergy I’ve shared with each of my subjects, particularly complete strangers who have made up 85% of my current interviews.
I’m extremely elated that my subjects as well as everyone that has followed along this journey initially subscribed to being a part of what started out as a wacky, fun exercise to watching it develop into a spirited unfolding of mini memoirs that have been inspiring guides to pleasantly walk through each day.
I can only imagine what the next quarter round of interviews will bring 🙂
xo,
KO #100daysofconfessions ✈️