Did you miss me?

6-days; now the longest I've broken my writing streak

Oct 09, 2024

Last week, I spent the week in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was onboarding and kicking off a new project with the United States’ Space Force. Exciting project.

The thing about work-trips is…they’re work.

Monday, I spent the day traveling-to and exploring downtown Colorado Springs after checking-in and prepping for the week at the hotel. That’s all I really did for exploring. Then, as it’s onboarding week with a new client, there’s a LOT to read, learn, and absorb to start creating & making things.

Saturday, I spent the day traveling-fro and coming home to Raleigh. Sunday was recovery day—resting, cooking, reading, and spending time with my family. Monday, there was stand-up and the work week started.

6-days

In these six days missed publishing, there’s been a lot of heavy thinking work. When finishing up the work-day, my brain was tired from the writing, reading, asking, synthesizing, and even—simply—socially spent.

I shifted my morning writing to read required onboarding materials, in preparation for the days. Then, I’d show up early to the office because of how I was seeing things more clearly as the days went on: what we were making, why we were making it, and how things could all come together.

This goes back to Substack post #17—Breaking my longest daily writing streak. I broke it again, though I still am around a 100% “posting rate” if counting weekdays rather than everyday and using the weekend postings as bonus content. So, though I did break it, my overall numerical churn remains steady.

New feelings

Notably, I’ve missed writing and posting. It’s different than when I first broke my streak. Sure, the guilt & shame of not posting is still there, but there are different feelings. New feelings.

I missed writing.

Specifically, writing for me, on this platform, for the handful of possible readers. Thank you!

It’s fun. It creates clarity. It also creates shitty first drafts that become manure to fertilize deeper thinking and better writing as I cultivate my digital garden.

Old feelings

That guilt and shame remains, but they’re smaller than before. While this tattoo didn’t make it into my leadership values post, it’s one that grounds my daily path: be kind.

It’s okay to miss the posting, both literally and internally. Context’s changed. Daily rhythm has changed with new clients, prompting changes of context and flow.

I’m still here, and will keep up the daily writing. Re-iterating to myself:

shit happens;
life happens;
change is a constant.

Consistency for consistency’s sake—as well as algorithmic relevancy—doesn’t take into count the complexity of all the systems we live in, nor the variances of spacetime and our unique, individual, bodyminds.

Reminds me of a Walt Disney quote:

“There’s really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward—opening up new doors and doing new things—because we’re curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We’re always exploring and experimenting.”1

Or, much more flashy, fun, and from Meet the Robinsons:

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