A few days ago I was revisiting my old blog and found it funny that one of my last posts was about going more offline, less dependent on cloud services, and having more time for important things.
It is funny because I feel that 3 years after I’m reliving the same thing again. Well, perhaps not exactly the same, but I’m at that point of the cycle where I’m fed up with too many internet/digital distractions. I’ve been missing writing and have been making plans to restart posting on my blog on a more frequent basis, but this hasn’t happened so far… until today.
A few months ago, when I committed(to myself) to read two books a month, I uninstalled all time wasters from my phone. And, mind you, I didn’t have many. I hate mobile games and useless mobile apps. But I was still spending too much time communicating with people (Reddit, Discord, Twitter). So I removed all of that and began taking my faithful Kobo e-reader with me everywhere. Fast forward a few months and, yes, I have mostly been able to read two books every month, which has been a great experience that gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Now I’m moving to the next step, besides reading I also want to get back to writing more. For weeks I’ve been drafting posts in my mind about stuff I want to write, and yet I never seem to find the time to sit and start. Work, family, hobbies, reading.. everything gets in the way… but does it? Until I removed all distractions from my phone I was also complaining that I didn’t have time to read two books a month.
So today I made the decision to let go of a bunch of Discord communities I’ve been participating in. It was a tough decision because I also get value from it, I learn, share, and help others… but my analysis of the signal vs noise ratio tells me this will be a good decision in the long haul.
I have no blog readers. I have no audience. I have nothing to sell. I want to write just because I like to do it. Not that I’m a great writer, or that aspire to become one and write books. I just like to write on my blog and note down my thoughts about things. Sometimes I like to come back to it and recall past findings and thoughts. Maybe I’m getting old, but I just enjoy quiet time to learn, observe, and reflect. Both reading and writing give me that.
So, today is the day I start and this is the first post of this new phase.
I re-arranged this blog to match this phase, more focus on the blog, and less on my work and projects. Keeping things simple, that’s my way š