Q: If I began following a trend on Tumblr back in 2013, and I’ve consistently done it every year through 2017, does that make me hipster (even if the trend might be considered a tad basic)? 

(Find the answer at the bottom of this post.)

Another round of singing “Auld Lang Syne” has passed, and I’ve opened yet another year’s worth of happy “pocket moments” to kick start 2018.

Back in my Tumblr days, I saw this post about collecting a jar of notes about the moments that made you particularly happy over the course of an entire year. I thought I was being cool by following this very hip Tumblr trend that had many reposts and likes and comments from folks saying how awesome this idea was. (It was probably also captured in a very floral, pastel, semi-indie aesthetic.)

Now, I’m realizing that it is not just cool (but is it really cool if you have to say it’s cool?), but it’s also a wonderful way to remind yourself that as bad, as upsetting, or as stressful as a year might have been in retrospect—there were likely also high points that are worth remembering, treasuring, and being happy about.

It’s true that these moments only provide a sliver of a single day of your past year, so they might not be completely representative of how you actually felt and were doing at the time. Nevertheless, actively tracking these happy moments still serves as a good exercise for reminding yourself to look for the silver lining in all moments.

I was not very consistent in keeping my jar up to date this year, perhaps because I’m now using a Passion Planner, which includes on each double-page spread for the week, a box in which you can keep track of the “Good Things That Happened.” When I went to look back on my 2017 Passion Planner, I was also very heartened to discover that I had written at least one good thing on most weeks.

There was a week where I’d written, “pretty sure good things did happen…” in that box, which is kind of sad, but also kind of encouraging because at least I had gotten into the habit of looking for the good things that happened.

Like last year, all of my happy moments in 2017 were made possible by people like you. Thank you.

But actually though.

All of my moments featured direct, word-for-word quotes of things people had said to me or about me, or a brief synopsis of what we did together that had made me feel wonderful that day. My apartment, where I am sitting as I write this, is quite cold, but reading these moments warms my heart with a strength that almost thaws my toes.

Thanks to all the humans who shared with me “many lol’s;” made me feel loved with “human touch;” said “thank you” to me after we spent a wonderful day together; yelled to me as I was heading home after an interview, “We like your shoes!”; bonded with me over “deep lunch convo(s)”; and apologized to prom-goers in SF about being “plebians” who were just trying to cut through their crowd to get home.

I’m immensely grateful for your words and the moments we shared that led you to say these things. You brought me happiness then, and happiness now as I recall these memories. Here’s to many more wonderful moments together.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I am doing this again next year. I’ve already started.

Some people are over making new year’s resolutions. I, however, find a lot of value in doing so, particularly if your resolutions are ones that bring about positive change or help support you support yourself in whatever journey you might be embarking on in the new year, whether it’s finding a new job, improving your mental health, or getting into better shape.

I made three resolutions last year, and I’d give myself a C for them because I definitely did not complete one of them, so let’s try again.

In 2018, I resolve to

1. chart my emotions every day so I can become more familiar with them and my mental health.
2. write one small paragraph in my journal at the end of every day.
3. be more positive. (Failed in 2017, so there’s always room for improvement, right?)

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A: It would be hipster to follow this trend by this point—if I had not made this same joke in January 2017. Clearly, I am getting old. Happy 2018.