## simulating sample data

set.seed(.1073)
my_df <- data.frame(my_dates = sample(seq(as.Date('2010-01-01'), as.Date('2016-12-31'), 1), 1000, replace = TRUE))


### aggregating + visualizing counts per month

my_df %>%
  mutate(my_dates = round_date(my_dates, 'month')) %>%
  group_by(my_dates) %>%
  summarise(n_row = n()) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = my_dates, y = n_row))+
  geom_bar(stat = 'identity', color = 'black',fill = 'slateblue', alpha = .5)+
  scale_x_date(date_breaks = 'months', date_labels = '%y-%b') +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 60, hjust = 1))