The Mayfly Project
The Project
At the end of every year since 2000, we invite readers to look back on the last twelve months of their lives and reflect on what has been important, defining or constant during that particular year, and then sum their year up in just 24 words.
We believe that embracing the constraint of summing up the last year in a handful of words helps to focus what has really mattered.
The Background
In December of 2000, I met an old friend for dinner. We hadn’t seen each other in nine years, and hadn’t been in contact for eight. With only a few hours on a chilly evening in London to catch up before his plane left for Canada, we shared our stories in breathless bursts. So much had happened. We had to narrow it down to the essentials.
The best brief biography I’ve ever heard was for a mayfly:
“Born. Eat. Shag. Die.”
Because Ephemeroptera lives only for twenty-four hours, the summary of its life is refreshingly straightforward: To the point. The stuff that matters. Just the essentials.
I realised on the way home from the restaurant that there’s nothing quite like embracing the constraint of brevity (whether time or wordcount) when summing up the last year of your life to make you re-examine your priorities, or focus on what has affected you or was important to you over the last twelve months.
When I got home from seeing my friend, inspired by my evening and the biography of a mayfly bumping around in my head, I asked readers of this site to sum up the last year of their lives in just a handful of words. The Mayfly Project was born.
Due to popular demand, we’ve been running the Mayfly Project at the end of every year since then (here’s the 2006 edition, and here’s what happened in 2007 and 2008). It seems that people have got a lot to say - or rather, that a lot of people have got not a lot to say: twenty-four words, to be precise, reflecting the mayfly’s short lifespan.
Another year has passed, and we’re back again.
The Instructions
Scroll down to sum up your 2009 in twenty-four words. But before you do, check:
- Is it twenty four words?
- Does it sum up the last year of your life?
If the answer to either of those is no, you’re going to look silly.
New job, ran far and drank whiskey in the midnight sun, threw flames in the desert, moved in with boy, embarking on huge challenges.
Moved to Columbus, New job right away, worked a lot, spent time off watching great bands play. Nothing went terribly wrong. Calling it successful.
Me Vs The Corporation: LOST. Cookbooks but no sex unless the pie was good. Me in a snowbank, he on the beach. Thanks Vicodin.
And emotionally indulgent year and a lesson in learning how to live with myself. Started terribly, ended better than I ever believed it could.
Lost first love and trying to get it back. Happy to have prioritized beyond career for first time. Excited to see brother grow.
Still in love with boyfriend and martial arts. Got tipsy for the first time. Went to Cape Cod and Boston, found freedom and bliss.
Crop. Contacts. Happy. But a banker’s widow. Indian adventures. Husband returns. Marriage celebrates. Singing. Stomping. Photos. White van. Broken. Mending. New job. On track.
A long winter, confusion, illustrations, more illustrations, broken camera, flight overseas, new camera, return home, no job, more illustrations, depression, publication, unidentified allergy, exhaustion.
Six months unemployed, moved back in with parents. New job, a fiancé who left me broken and a beautiful girlfriend who mended me again.
Lots of death, in awful privacy; lots of sex, in wonderful privacy. And lots of terribly public near-misses for both.
[...] the past few years, i’ve been taking part in the mayfly project: the year in 24 [...]
Turned 40, significant holidays, lived two cultures, regretted decisions, suffered alone, turned a corner, learnt to run, overcoming hurdles, initiating change, a different me!
Briefly dated Italian Stallion. Unemployed until March. Acquired stalker in April. Got restraining order in November. Realized becoming a 10-year survivor in February 2010.
[...] Mayfly 2009 December 31, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — epicuriousgirl @ 12:12 am summing up 2009 ala the mayfly project; [...]
drowning in work. hong kong. macau. shenzhen. more deadlines. exhaustion. krabi beach getaway. dslr photography. japan. confrontation. self-exploration. perth. bestie’s wedding. rediscovering love, warmth.
Settle or embrace boomerang lifestyle?
Work takes backseat, fitness front.
Ran 42 tracing former Wall.
Passport no longer rusty.
Kauai calm. Hong Kong hum.
[...] about what I’ve been up to, and what might be happening next for me, and then I came across the Mayfly project. Every year since 2000, Meg Pickard has asked her readers to look back over the previous year, and [...]
Got engaged in Rome, unemployed, employed quickly, still recovering from thieving builder, lifetime dream fulfilled, didn’t get flooded - 37 and still an optimist!!!Woohooo
Got engaged.
Celebrated birtday.
Enjoyed snowboarding.
White(!)weddingdress.
Worked hard.
Loved friends and bachelor party.
Marvelous wedding.
Lions, leopards and elephants
No loss again.
California (club class), Maidenhead, innovation, stress, Leeds, Cornwall, gin & tonics, California again, commitment, York, disappointment. Holding it all together, but wanting better.
All failures burn but begin anew opportunity: Freelance new media journalist suffers heartache, reports eco-nomics from Cop15 closes bad for environment great for career.
Cut hair; cleaned closets; lost a few friends, made a few more; saw many shows; another futile love; wondering how to make 2010 better.
All four wisdom teeth pulled. No travelling this year. Still miss London terribly. Too much snow, not enough money, but 2010? Who knows? Wait.
Closer to graduating, closer to impecunity, closer to implementing my Plan, closer to being a grownup, closer to my lover, closer to my kids.
Blogged - surprised at all positive feedback. Wrote. Published once. Earned nothing. Explained SA to one person orally, more online. Said goodbye to my mother.