One interesting thing about my website is that I seem to have been writing for an audience of the internet. However, the only people I have to share this with are family and friends. Of my articles, the one I think I dislike the most is Life Rquires Constant Growth. Looking back on it, all I can see is the cringe parts: referencing Veggietales and Bo Burnham at the same time; talking about all the fertilizer i'm gonna give myself (2/3 of which I have yet to follow through on). When I shared my website with my friends John and Shino, all they could see it the meaningful, deep metaphor type stuff. So I was then wondering: is this the norm?; as I have gripes with nearly everything I've written, but few with anything others have written.
So that was on my mind when a youtube creator I watch uploaded this video: I hate pretty much everything I make. Within it, he explains that for all creative people this is unavoidable, but not a reason to give up. But also that with enough distance that it gets better. While I would hesitate to call my blog posts art, his concept seems to apply in this circumstance. This is reassuring to me.
I would say that for a rather long time, I have had the limiting belief that "having a diary is for losers". While it would be easy to blame that on toxic masculinity, I think that maybe the opposite is true. Even if the journals of strong men such as Theodore Rosevelt or Winston Churchill exist, they are overshadowed by works like Dear Dumb Diary or Diary of a Wimpy Kid; that contribute to a juvenile view.
The first entry in my journal is from right around when I started my website, so the two are definitley conjoined. As when you start any new thing, it's sporadic, but in early November, I started using it as a prayer journal, and was able to write in it 6 days a week.
As part of prayer journaling, I found reading the daily readings to be not terribly difficult. From this I have decided that I can read the bible in a year, following the five day bible plan as recommended by Ray Patrick. Consider this my main new year's resolution for 2023.
Recently I saw a video entitled This pocket notepad is (slowly) replacing my phone, and then later this post by Jacob Smith; both of which gave glowing recommendations to a pocket-size notepad. As part of my process towards digital minimalism, a pocket notepad seems like a welcome addition. So I am glad to have received one from my sister for Christmas.