Day 731 - Two years of daily writing https://writelier.com/two-years-of-daily-writing-e29bd7fd-5630-4ae9-bd54-5f2ad0da93f0
It's been two full years of daily writing since I started writing here on 8 Dec 2018. Today will be my last post here.
"The days are long but the years are short."
That little saying is exactly how it felt like after 700+ days. Some days felt long indeed, especially in the beginning when the writing habit had yet to solidify, and inspiration ran dry. I recall with fondness my many slump days back then, just doing whatever random writing that can get me through to the next day without breaking my streak. Those experimental days were hard, but on hindsight, great fun. I was working out my writing muscles, honing my writing voice and discovering my deeper why. I think right around the six month mark, things started to settle. After one year, slump days are but a distant memory. These days, even when I have no inspiration, no topic to write on, it doesn't take long to eventually find something to pen down. It's become hygiene.
What's next then?
I'll be taking a short break from daily writing, to recap and recalibrate my deeper why, and how I want my writing to serve me in the next phase. I'll be completely honest here: It's quite a relief to be breaking my streak, but not because I no longer enjoy writing. Quite on the contrary. I don't think I can do without it for long, now that writing to think—to disentangle my thoughts and emotions using words—had become habit. I guess the relief comes from unarticulated and unconscious desires for a fresh start, a new space, a blank slate. Like moving house after staying in one place for a long time. You might have formed lots of lovely memories in this house and be reluctant to leave, but still be glad and excited to move into somewhere different. That's how I feel right now.
And after two years writing here, I'm also starting to have my own opinions and wants for my writing tool. But I was too lazy to make my own. And I was (too) comfortable here. It gave the minimum of what I needed. There just wasn't enough pull and push. But with this platform's shutdown, it gave me just the right push. Since I have to move, might as well make my own writing tool, one that would serve my needs. One that helps me write to think even better, see data, themes, threads, networks of thought, help me easily reflect and look back at my mental landscape years from now to see even more patterns and trends. One where the community can help inspire each other become the best versions of themselves through writing their way through it, always encouraging, always giving, like my 'pen pals' here: @keni @brandonwilson @imknight @keenencharles
Surprisingly and counterintuitively, I'm not sad for my last day here. I expected to feel nostalgic, even forlorn. Yet here I am.
This is not goodbye. I'll still be writing. And writers who write often in public will invariably cross paths and find each other.
Words have a way.
"The days are long but the years are short."
That little saying is exactly how it felt like after 700+ days. Some days felt long indeed, especially in the beginning when the writing habit had yet to solidify, and inspiration ran dry. I recall with fondness my many slump days back then, just doing whatever random writing that can get me through to the next day without breaking my streak. Those experimental days were hard, but on hindsight, great fun. I was working out my writing muscles, honing my writing voice and discovering my deeper why. I think right around the six month mark, things started to settle. After one year, slump days are but a distant memory. These days, even when I have no inspiration, no topic to write on, it doesn't take long to eventually find something to pen down. It's become hygiene.
What's next then?
I'll be taking a short break from daily writing, to recap and recalibrate my deeper why, and how I want my writing to serve me in the next phase. I'll be completely honest here: It's quite a relief to be breaking my streak, but not because I no longer enjoy writing. Quite on the contrary. I don't think I can do without it for long, now that writing to think—to disentangle my thoughts and emotions using words—had become habit. I guess the relief comes from unarticulated and unconscious desires for a fresh start, a new space, a blank slate. Like moving house after staying in one place for a long time. You might have formed lots of lovely memories in this house and be reluctant to leave, but still be glad and excited to move into somewhere different. That's how I feel right now.
And after two years writing here, I'm also starting to have my own opinions and wants for my writing tool. But I was too lazy to make my own. And I was (too) comfortable here. It gave the minimum of what I needed. There just wasn't enough pull and push. But with this platform's shutdown, it gave me just the right push. Since I have to move, might as well make my own writing tool, one that would serve my needs. One that helps me write to think even better, see data, themes, threads, networks of thought, help me easily reflect and look back at my mental landscape years from now to see even more patterns and trends. One where the community can help inspire each other become the best versions of themselves through writing their way through it, always encouraging, always giving, like my 'pen pals' here: @keni @brandonwilson @imknight @keenencharles
Surprisingly and counterintuitively, I'm not sad for my last day here. I expected to feel nostalgic, even forlorn. Yet here I am.
This is not goodbye. I'll still be writing. And writers who write often in public will invariably cross paths and find each other.
Words have a way.
