What makes you happy? It is perhaps the most complex and simple question. What if you had to answer that question for 100 days in a row, providing a different answer each day by taking a photograph of the thing that makes you happy? Could you do it? I’m about to find out for myself.

Megan, a friend of mine, posted on Facebook about this happiness project conducted by 100happydays.com. Intrigue! The challenge is straight-forward: take a picture of something that makes you happy once a day, every day for 100 days. Tag your glimpses of happiness with #100happydays. You can use whichever social media platform you’d like, but it’s a real commitment. They’re going to see if you keep up with these little photos.

According to the 100happydays website, 71% of participants do not complete the challenge. Those same participants cite lack of time as the reason for not posting. That’s essentially saying, you don’t have time to be happy. Or notice what makes you smile.

Please, Lord, let me have time for this! My phone is glued to my hand or securely in my purse for 99% of my day; it even sits next to me as I sleep. There is really no excuse for not trying at this challenge, except for the fear of my own excuses. And I don’t want to be shut down by my own excuses.

100happydays is not meant to show off or one-up anyone. This is for me and my understanding of myself. The perk of some potentially wonderful pictures is just that, a perk. The website also states that people who complete the challenge have 1) started noticing what makes them happy 2) claimed an improvement in their daily mood 3) started receiving more compliments from others 4) realized how lucky they are to have the lives they do 5) become more optimistic and 6) fall in love during the challenge. These are not promises or guarantees. The results here are up to you.

My challenge begins today. I’m nervous and excited about starting this project. It helps too that there is a website holding me accountable for keeping up with this. Kind of like when you go to the gym with a friend. I’ll be participating via my Instagram account, which I’ve left a link to below. Ever so often, I’ll check in here and let you see some of my snapshots of happiness.

If you decide to give this beastie a shot, let me know in the comments which social media platform you’ll be using and we can support each other.

Good luck, everybody!

Instagram: caitlinemccann