Ever since I was young I loved filming and editing videos. Documenting my life was an outlet for me, as a teen dealing with Lyme disease. It helped me express myself. It was my constant. No matter what was going on, no matter how sick I was, I always had my video camera with me. I wanted to be on camera so much, that I quickly learned I would do nearly anything if I could get it on film. On days when I couldn’t get myself to take my mounds of pills anymore, I would turn the camera on and film myself taking them. When I did a month-long treatment where I had to take these vile tasting meds each day, I filmed every single dose, because chronicling my experience made it more bearable.

As I’ve grown older, my love for documenting my life has grown with me. And with the new age of smart phones, filming has never been easier, or better quality!

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Four years ago I watched the movie Chef. In that movie they showed one of the characters filming their life every day, and then making a video using one second from each day. I loved that idea, and immediately began filming for my own Second A Day video. I filmed for an entire year, taking one second from each day, and putting them to music. When the year was over, and I saw my finished product, I was hooked. Since then, I have made four Second A Day videos, showing the past four years of my life.

Here is a link to my most recent Second A Day video:

What I love the most about documenting my life in this way, is that you get to look back on your entire year, every single day of it, in about 6 and a half minutes. I made a pact with myself that I was going to show my real life. Both the happy and the not so happy. Because in the end, when I look back on my year, I want to see the real thing. I want to see it the way I saw it as it was happening.

When I first started filming these videos, I loved it because I enjoyed watching the year progress through my various treatments. I would show clips from my doctors appointments, IVs, all my different therapies. For years, my poor health was the main focus of the videos. And then this year happened.

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My 2018-19 Second A Day video starts with me not doing so well, struggling with multiple chemical sensitivities. Then a few months in, I started DNRS, and you get to watch the most amazing, healthy, wonderful year of my life unfold on camera. I start exercising, and hiking, and just truly loving my life. And I bring the camera along for it all.

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I am pretty sure I’m going to film these Second A Day videos until I’m an old granny in a nursing home, hassling my friends to “be in my second for today”. And I highly recommend to anyone out there looking to document their life, to try making one! When you start, you have no idea where the year is going to take you! But wherever you end up, you’ll be able to watch the whole journey for years to come.

You can follow me on Instagram to see more of what I’m up to!