This photo popped up on Facebook today reminding me of a daunting project I undertook in 2017 to scan, identify, and share family photos I inherited from my parents. They accumulated or inherited the photos over decades, and I hadn’t touched the box since my mom died in 2011 making the identification part kind of tricky. However, with my 50th birthday as motivation, I decided to tackle it one day at a time starting on January 1, 2017.
A daunting project that had paralyzed me with dread became a daily challenge that I tackled a little bit at a time. I got to play around with scanning tools (apps work great in a pinch, but can’t match even a moderate end scanner), try out a bunch of photo editing tools (unless you’re a pro, most apps between $25-100 will do a serviceable job on the basics), experiment with Ancestry.com (meh) and FamilySearch.org (this is what the internet was built to do), and connect with extended family in our collective quest to share and compare stories (priceless).
The life lesson of this 365-day experience was large projects can cause paralysis, and the best way to move forward is to (1) start (seriously) and (2) tackle a little bit at a time. That’s the point of me getting back to posting a bit on my blog each day in 2019. I have sooooooo much swimming in my head that I want to get down on (virtual) paper and the best way I’ve found to write is to … wait for it … write. A little bit at a time.