Danielle: The November Project was born out of a monotonous routine by two college girls on November 1st, 2008.
Holly and I became instant friends when we started at Wingate University in 2005 in our Wingate 101, "Welcome to College" seminar. An adjective ice-breaker helped us to remember each other as "Happy Holly" and "Daring Danielle." Holly's uplifting personality and my desire for constant adventure led the two of us to become fast friends in our freshman year, sorority sisters in our sophomore, best friends in our junior, and roommates in our senior.
And through the years, I made fun of Holly relentlessly for her over-use of cliches. Whenever I was having a bad day, I heard, "Everything happens for a reason, right?" When I was homesick, "Home is where the heart is, right?" And my favorite, "We should be living every day like it's our last, right?"
Sometimes I wanted to punch her in her silver lining.
Holly: So let’s rewind three years to October 2008. October was a rough month for both of us. Senior year and living with 3 of my best friends—sounds like the perfect situation. Well in October, nothing was right. It wasn’t ending up to be the picture-perfect Senior year we imagined. Do you know that feeling? You’re a few months shy of a new chapter, new beginning, and excited to leave everything familiar behind and start over new… but you just can’t seem to make the best of the time you have!
D: I knew something had to be done when "Happy Holly" didn't seem so happy anymore. And neither did I. I called my friends at Appalachian State University at 10:00 at night, and told them we were leaving Wingate, North Carolina to drive through the night and come visit them. We got there at 12:00AM on November 1st.
The trip was just what we needed—the people, the spontaneity, the newly formed inside jokes. We were rejuvenated. Refreshed. But we were a two and a half hour drive away from returning to our monotonous, stressful lives. Back to Holly’s cliches to keep us motivated just enough to get through the semester.
H: Have you ever been on a long car ride? Now, have you ever been on a long car ride with Danielle or myself? As imagined, there wasn’t a lot of quiet time. We talked the whole way about the night before and our futures. So after this perfectly carpe-diem night [D: See, I told you] we decided not to waste our time being sad and just coasting; we decided we would hope for better!
D: If November 1st could be this great, couldn't the rest of the month? We agreed that living every day like it's your last is just not possible or practical. You can not jump out of airplanes, stay up all night with friends, drink cranberry vodkas until you're dizzy, and solve world peace every day of your life—but you can pick just ONE MONTH every year to look forward to. To do something every day for thirty days that makes your life happy.
And every year since 2008, Holly and I look forward to November. We keep each other accountable, we go to new places and try new things, and do our best to make November a month that counts for something more than the ordinary every-day. November is our motivation to live a better life.
I hope you'll follow along with us as we post every day in the month of November to share our life experiences with you. I hope you'll try to make the next 30 days your best month of the year.
H: And we need YOUR help! We want everyone’s November to be as fabulous as ours! Join us in the November project. Comment, follow, begin, do, and enjoy.
All our love,
Danielle & Holly
