Many look back at their year and think, “man, this year sucked, next year will be my year.” Although they experienced positives, the negatives create a dense cloud suppressing the good. This past January, Anne Lassiter Barnes, senior at Broughton, found a way to combat the negative feelings people accumulate throughout the year.
“Every day, I take a one second video and at the end of the month, I put all the clips together to make one long video,” said Barnes via text.
Barnes’ source of inspiration were other videos, similar, to her own circulating the internet. She thinks the idea is cool and likes how the videos allowed her to “remember a good thing that happened everyday [during the month].”
Creating these videos, Barnes has the opportunity to recount the one second video clip she chose to represent her day, the positive that stood out to her. It allows her to realize how fortunate she really is.
Gabrielle Fontenot, senior at Leesville, decided to do something similar to Barnes, create videos. Unlike Barnes, Fontenot is filming solely her senior year. Fontenot said via text, “I’m doing this project because I want to be able to look back at my experiences throughout high school, or at least my senior ‘year.’”
High school flies by, as any senior will attest, and Fontenot hopes to inspire others to “take in each and every day of high school, because it doesn’t last forever.”
Creating these videos, whether it’s for the whole year or a portion of the year, allows the creator to reminisce on the good times and focus on the positives everyday. By doing so, people are subconsciously bettering their lives.
According to James Clear, writer for the Huffington Post, “Positive thoughts can actually create real value in your life and help you build skills that last much longer than a smile.” Through an experiment, studies show that positive emotions broaden a person’s sense of possibility.
So, why not create these videos to combat the school year blues or the negatives of the year?
“I think the best benefit of this project will be that I will always have something to remind me of my best memories and best friends of my last year of high school,” said Fontenot. While Fontenot thinks the greatest benefit is the memories, Barnes likes that “they [the videos] make you think about something positive everyday… [and] it also makes you want to get out to try new things.” The benefits of making these personalizable videos are immense.
Both girls are excited to see their final products.
Whether it’s every month or after a couple of months of filming, the finished video is priceless.
Conducting these interviews encouraged the creation of my own set of monthly videos. I began September 1 and can’t wait for the 30 to roll around. Just as I was inspired, Fontenot and Barnes hope to have inspired you, too.
Below is one of Barnes’ complete videos, and my unfinished video for September.
