So I didn’t post yesterday for the first time in 36 days. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I got in my own head. I had been thinking about why I am writing at all.
The reason I write is that it helps me process my thoughts and put them into some steps I can take action on. I do it publicly because I would have liked to come across this information when I really needed it. There is plenty of information out there, but most of it is either outdated or impractical. It is usually quite general and primarily directed towards those who follow the typical career path.
Though I am smart enough to read general information and find a way to apply it to my life, when you’re in the thick of it, you tend to have blinders on that make it harder to see the bigger picture. I believe that writing is the best form of therapy. There are many times that simply writing something down takes the power away from a negative thought.
I have struggled with whether or not I need to be writing publicly, both because I often believe I am not the right person to be talking about these topics and that I have no idea if anyone else wants to read what I have to say. I don’t want to become known for these topics; I simply want to help. I want someone who is where I was last week to read them and feel less alone.
Though these posts are newer topics for me, I have been writing for decades. I have countless articles on mobile technology and photography on the web and even more video content on those topics. Starting a few years ago, I began to lose my interest in staying on top of the latest advancements in tech and photography. Except for AI, there hasn’t been much advancement lately, especially in hardware.
I started focusing on software, but the interest quickly waned because I don’t want to chase it in the same way I did technology hardware. Software has to provide extreme value in my life for me to implement it and share how I’m using it with others. I want to optimize certain areas of my life, not so I can use more software, but so I have more time for people.
My pivot to writing about the “people” aspects of my life is a reflection of my desire for what I believe many other people want: better and more authentic connections with others. No app can do that, no device will solve for basic human connection. Software can help in a similar way to a book, but it can’t fix or replace anything; it’s simply a source of information.
More authentic connections mean knowing people and being known by them. All of us have a lot of friends that we barely know. Twenty-five years ago, these people would be considered acquaintances, not friends. We feel alone these days because we know so many people but don’t really “know” them or feel known by them.
I used to prefer this distance. I wanted to control what people knew about me, mostly because I knew that if they knew everything about me, they probably wouldn’t like me. I am less afraid of that now and don’t really care if something about me upsets someone.
I don’t read through my old journals, but each week I do a weekly debrief where I review the week to list wins, challenges, insights, priorities, and anything else that stuck out. That helps me identify themes that are true about my lived experience, and those often turn into topics I write about. I have a few years of weekly debriefs to pull from.
Often when writing, I use Grammarly to help correct my sentence structure. I rely on it less these days as I have learned a lot about writing through its suggested corrections.
I have never had any expectations for replies or comments on these posts. I have YouTube videos with 500,000 views that have under 1,000 comments, so I know that just because the response to my writing has been pretty quiet, that doesn’t mean people are not reading it and finding it useful.
My goal in writing these posts is to help a few others feel less alone in the struggle of balancing family and career.
There are so many amazing platforms to share on. There needs to be fewer people trying to be the guru of something and more people sharing what they’ve learned from their lived experience. I can write for myself in my journal, but posting publicly also helps me think through what I am saying and validate what I am saying before I post it. It’s a good filter to put in front of me to keep me from becoming arrogant or self-centered.
I have had a few people reach out in response to a post, and that has been really nice; not to say that anything I had to say helped them in a specific way, but to share their own experience. I am more interested in that than I am in getting appreciation for anything I have written. Connection is the goal.
My writing is my extension of that. It’s me sharing the thoughts that matter to me in a world where most people only speak up to be outraged about something.
What would you share if you knew it might help someone feel less alone?