I guess I am too young to say that life is overwhelming, but I’ll say it anyway. I, also accept that I am too privileged to say the same. It is arrogant on my part to claim I know what I’m doing when I write
While most of what I’ve said on this blog, especially since last year, has resonated with people enough for them to respond to it, I still think it is unfair on my part to act like I have a grip on my life.
I can try to play the perfect orchestra of my life every day and more often than not, it sounds terrific. Then, there are days and sometimes weeks that make me realise how I should stop playing life-coach.
Ironically, I wrote a blog post on how I can’t write blog posts anymore. I received a few messages from people who find value in what I had to say. That made me realise the fact that while I had started writing for myself, it is when I began sharing it all around that the motivation changed.
However, to act like I have something important to offer when I share my life is unjust, as I’ve already said above. It is up to you to see that.
Also, I want to write in a way now that I can take parts of my life – the people, the bits and pieces of experience, the life-changing kicks, the travels and trips, the fortunate parts and the unfortunate ones – and create something significant out of them.
It is, in other words, an attempt to reinvent how I go about writing. At least, on this blog.
At the same time, I do want to share my life with the world, just not in a way where I pretend to have it under control. I do want to share what I’ve learned, how I’ve changed, and so on.
It turns out that I have managed to find a way out. The answer was, as always, in the way I looked at things.
The blog is as much of a self-help blog as I try to make it one. So, for starters, the titles which have “Life” and “Goal” and “Mission” have to go.
There will only be two kinds of things I’ll write on this blog now.
There will be the Journal – which you are reading right now. Then, there will be the Words – a part of which I posted yesterday.
If you want me to explain it, I can go as far as to clarify that the Journal will be barebones life updates, with sprinkles of things I’ve experienced lately, and so on.
The Journals will have numbers. The Words will have titles.
The Words will be my attempts at stories, narratives, anything that is more than just a blog post in my head. I’ll play around with styles, and find who I am as a writer.
There could be quote images, like earlier, but they’ll be everywhere and not just the top. This new style – for the lack of a better word – will help me share things with more freedom and intimacy while keeping the conversational nature in place.
That is why I hadn’t written in so long.
How can I find a perfectly crafted title to go along with a perfectly structured thousand words about having the perfect routine?
Before I end this though, I want to debunk self-help writing for you.
There’s not much to self-help. There are the basic tenets you can read everywhere in all forms. The real problem is when you start to implement those tenets in your life. In my opinion, there is only one rule, and all wisdom revolves around it – keep walking.
It’s funny how when you look at walking as a collection of steps you start to see the idea that it isn’t in grand goals and destinations rather just what you do and what you can control – that one step, that one day.
When you start searching for advice on how to cope with a specific issue, the basic idea always goes to “it gets better if you keep making small improvements every day”.
It’s bullshit. No one can tell you what to do unless you want to do it yourself. If you can do it yourself, you don’t want me or anyone else instructing you how to do it. Keep walking.
Also, in any situation, the most obvious answer is usually the self-help advice.
Want to lose weight? Eat healthily and exercise. Want to make sure you are productive? Prioritise.
The implementation is where the key is, everything else you already know.
In that sense, I’d instead write a thousand words allegedly describing a flower or describing how I decluttered my life, not just physically but emotionally, using a shoebox. Those are the words which I want to write.
I also want to write stories in the long-run, and maybe eventually,
The blog will undergo changes and starting today; you will not be able to see any older posts when you open the blog. It is what we software enthusiasts call a soft-reset. The older content is there; it’s just hidden.
I hope you’re as excited to read the blog as I am of writing on it now.
If you liked the Helping Hand posts, you’ll probably only want to read the Journal. If you liked the General stuff, you should probably stick to The Words. For some odd reason, if you wish to visit the older sections, you may do so by visiting The Archive.
This isn’t how the usual journal will be rather this is an announcement of sorts, but just to get things underway, let’s call it a journal entry. Let’s call it journal zero. The first post of this newer direction.
I’m glad I can finally do away with worrying about SEO, focus keywords, and other shit that interferes with what I want to write. It’s ridiculous I couldn’t do a post which was less than 300 words because my SEO plugin wouldn’t let me do it?
I guess I can do shorter journals now. I’d like that.
The Polymath, for better or worse, will be about me sharing my life. It will never be about me trying to tell you how I live my life. Neither will it be riddled with highly structured articles with me pretending to be the next Dale Carnegie or Mark Manson. I’m not.
I’m just a guy, who tries to be better every day but also lands up in deep shit eventually. I’m just a guy who writes to get out of it.
I like it that way.
