What I Realized from Noticing My Glimmers Every Week For {almost} A Year
If you’ve been following me on Instagram for the last year you’ve maybe noticed my Sunday posts always include my WEEKLY GLIMMERS which is where I share the images from my camera roll that made me smile, brought my joy, lit up my heart, etc. At first I started doing it because I wanted to share photos that were less curated than the rest of the content on my instagram but ones that still brought me happiness. I heard the term Glimmer in an instagram post, somewhere, some day, and it always stuck with me - essentially it’s the bright spots or small magical moments that make you love being here. I started doing them in March, but now that 2024 is done, I wanted to share a few things that happened that have surprised me about doing this practice.
I started noticing trends in the things that made me happy and sought them out even more
One of my strengths is noticing trends in data and by collecting these beautiful moments in my phone I was able to narrow in on the main things that light up my life:
Dappled light
Relationships
Nature
Things that spark awe
Accomplishments
New experiences
Thrift finds that delight me
Over and over again these were the majority of images that made it’s way into my weekly glimmers and as a result, I started to see them more! The wild way our brains work is that whatever we deem to be emotionally important, we will seek out - usually this works to our detriment in that we tend to over focus on negative stuff, so for this to happen the other way we need to be intentional (like having a weekly or daily practice dedicated to it lol). As a result, I started seeking them out, cultivating more moments, and shifting myself away from the stuff that wasn’t as delightful and towards the things that were.
2. Posting the things that light me up doesn’t get much traction on social media
This part was fascinating and interesting. I’m not really one to care too much about vanity metrics, but it was hard not to notice that a regular post of mine would get 50+ likes/shares/etc. but my Glimmer posts would yield maaaaaybe 10 or so on average. Perhaps it’s the time of day or the day itself (Sunday) but I found it interesting that sharing things that were more generic and about the simple things in life, people didn’t seem to care as much (not that it matters, it’s just interesting). It tells me that “social” media is maybe a bit less social and a lot more value based. than it used to be (this is important information if you want to get your content seen by more eyes!) I will say, however, that despite this finding, I am not going to stop doing my GLIMMERS because they aren’t for anyone but me anyways. AND even if they don’t get as much vanity metric traffic, I have seen that my consistency has inspired my fellow friends and followers to start their own weekly recaps ~ which is AMAZING!!
3. As someone future focused it helps me stay connected to my past & present
One of the reasons I started doing GLIMMERS was so that I could remember what had happened the week prior - I am the type of person that is future focused and rarely in the present (even as I write this I am thinking about the fact that I will be home soon even though it’s still a day away) which meant that previously I wouldn’t even consider what happened in previous weeks or months - simply because I would be focused on the next! By having to reflect on the past week I was able to revel and savour the beautiful moments that I experienced that would otherwise feel fleeting, like spending time with a friend, frolicking in a field, or learning how to do something new for the first time! By having to go back and remember those memories I have been able to create these little “pockets of sunshine” - it also shows me the weeks when I might be feeling a bit more down and not being with people, looking for the light, experiencing new things, etc. before it gets to be an issue. By checking in with my GLIMMERS weekly, I can essentially recalibrate my life to get back to the things that fill my cup!
So, I will continue to do my WEEKLY GLIMMERS as long as I can because A) I love to see what brings me joy and B) I hope it inspires others to do the same. We know the science on gratitude and how cultivating a practice of looking for the good can help improve our mindset and attitude, so why would I stop? Sharing my life with those that want to see more of how I see the world and documenting the things that gave me a boost of joy, confidence, or calmness will be a beautiful testament to the life I lived. Because our lives end up being 50/50 good and bad (but our brains may interpret it more like 20/80 good and bad due to evolution) GLIMMERS help me stay intentional and looking for the good, even when it’s hard to keep me moving forward!
