“Gratitude Photo of the Day” - terrific or terrible idea?

Day 79

I’ve been accused (by myself and many, many others) of being an overachiever.  And the truth is, I am an overachieving overachiever.  Also known as an overachiever on steroids.  I honestly think it goes with the territory.  I want to please everyone, myself included, and don’t want to fail or even just mildly succeed at anything.  If pressuring one’s self was an Olympic sport - I believe I could medal in it.  So where am I going with this?

It was suggested to me months ago by Dr. K to keep a record of five things I was grateful for every day.  I did this for about 10 days and had to really reach to list five on some days.  This was when I was in a pretty bad place and couldn’t see a smile from my kids as something to be grateful for.  Then, I am on Facebook and see many of my art teacher friends have been doing a year long challenge of taking and posting a photo-a-day.  This is a creative and mindful challenge.  So in all my brilliance I thought “Great.  Why don’t I combine the two???”  I should have stopped right there.  Today is day 153 of my Gratitude Photo of the Day being posted on Facebook.  I only missed posting on one day, which I can now tell you was the day I was admitted to the inpatient hospital program (http://thecompassionateb.blogspot.com/2015/05/rock-bottom.html), but I took the photo on the correct day, so I just had to wait until I got my phone back to post it the following day!  

So you might be wondering why I am questioning the success of this venture.  I don’t like to quit.  I really don’t like to quit.  I’ve had to a few times this year while battling my depression.  But I am not sure that I am gaining anything from this exercise.  It has taken great restraint not to post photos of the new shoes and other accessories I have purchased during retail therapy for two big reasons: 1. While I enjoy them,  I am not necessarily grateful for the things I purchase (now gifts on the other hand…) and 2. I really try hard not to be a materialistic person and posting photos of boots (even if they are gorgeous, comfortable, and a great deal) does not speak to who I am or who I want to be.  I have relearned that most of the things I am grateful for are not tangible.  The ones I am grateful for that are not too materialistic are for the most part food, art, nature, and my family and friends.  Those are the repeating themes of most of the photos I have posted.  I love all of these and am grateful for them… but do I really need two hundred and twelve more photos to illustrate this to myself - or to others?  Probably not.  OK, definitely not.  But I hate to quit anything and this is my current issue.  

Have I mentioned yet that not only do I overachieve; I also overthink?!?!  So while I continue to wrestle with this decision (which I have been thinking about for about 3 months) I imagine I will keep posting my pictures!