This site went live on February 9, 2022. Today marks our second anniversary.
I’m sharing a lesson learned from each year of writing online.
First Anniversary, February 9, 2023:
You are what you repeatedly do. That makes me a writer.
Not a professional writer (yet) but a writer all the same. And it feels good to say that. I’m a writer, a parent, a husband, an investor, a weightlifter, a reader, a cook, and the list goes on. The fun thing about this frame of mind is I can add to the list whenever I’d like, just by inserting the activity into my daily work. I can also delete from the list when things no longer serve me. I’m no longer a snowboarder, and I’m fine with that.
Entrepreneur, religious scholar, open water swimmer, arborist. It’s all on the table, it just takes consistent actions.
There’s a scene at the end of The Silver Linings Playbook where Pat (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) walk into a hotel before their big performance. The lobby is full of dancers warming up. Pat says, “Look at the dancers. You see them?” He is in awe.
He doesn’t see himself as one of them, but a few minutes later that all changes. He is a dancer.
Second Anniversary, February 9, 2024:
Most secrets are totally overblown and not worth the energy required for storage. They are built up in our head. Monumental, earth shattering, and mind blowing, but the truth is that nobody cares as much as you do.
How do I know? You probably don’t even remember, but Mexico (yes, the country) came out this past year and straight up told us they have aliens. The remains of mummified aliens. Nobody cared. I mean, people cared for a day or two. Clearly, I still care, but it was just a few revolutions of the news cycle, and everyone had moved on.
Mexico has ET, the real ET, and it looks like ET. Spielberg got that one right. Are they real? I have no clue. But the secret was real.
I kept this website a secret for way too long. From my wife, my family, my friends, and my coworkers. I built it up in my head to be so much more than it was.
I didn’t want to tell people until I had something good, I didn’t want to share because I thought I might quit. And then, when I finally figured out that I wasn’t going to quit, and I had something worth sharing, I felt bad for keeping the secret, so I kept it even longer. How is that for building things up in your head? Keep a secret because you feel bad you kept a secret?
When I finally told people, the response was mostly positive or indifferent. So, I told a few more and then I eventually posted publicly for anyone that was interested. Again, mostly positive, or indifferent.
My response though? Complete and total relief. I didn’t need to hold that secret anymore. Most secrets are like that. Somewhere between aliens and a blog post, and nobody cares.
What do you think?