Hey guys, thanks for your patience over the past couple weeks. Work has been very busy, and I haven’t had time to do the quality writing I always aspire to! Now, enough excuses – this post is one that is very important to me. This is my 100th blog post.
I’ll be honest: when I started this site, I never thought I would get that far. I never thought I would have something to say every week, 18 months after starting to write. And you know what kept me going? No disrespect meant here at all, but it was the fact that I’m still writing on this site for me, as part of my own personal journey first and foremost.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of my readers – all 17 of you (and shoutout to the loyal mystery reader in Bejing who comes back every single week… you rock my friend :)) – but if I wrote to impress others, I just know my motivation would suffer as a result.
And yet here I am, still writing after 100 posts. I’ve learnt a ton about myself in the past 18 months; it seems weird to say – after all, who knows you better than you, right? But even still, this journey has validated things I believed to be true about myself, and it’s uncovered things I didn’t even know were there, as well.
Here are some of my lessons so far.
Nature recharges my batteries and makes me happy.
Ok, not a huge revelation here. But what shining a spotlight on this fact did for me was to force this truth out of my subconscious and into my conscious, daily thought. I’ve begun building nature walks into my weekly routine. I’ve brought more plants into my home. I’ve begun gardening outdoors. I’ve even brought some small plants into my office. The greenery makes me feel good wherever I go… all because I chose to focus on my tendency toward it.
Interestingly though, as much as I love and need nature and greenery in my life, I have a hard time writing about it. My karate sensei once said that the difference between a truth and a fact is that a fact can be easily communicated and understood by another, but a truth is something you know deep-down, and is hard to communicate or make someone else understand. Seems to me that my relationship with nature is more of a truth than a fact. You might see me reorganize this site a little bit because of this realization!
I’m a serious writer.
Not a professional writer, mind you. Oh no, in my eyes my writing sucks, especially when I compare it to some of the folks I look up to in the world of blogging. No, when I say I’m serious, I mean I tend to favour earnest, passionate writing over casual, humourous prose. I’ve tried both on this site; one seems to fit me like a well-tailored suit, while the other is uncomfortable and itchy like a cheap wool sweater I accidentally put through the dryer.
That doesn’t mean I won’t dabble with humour here and there; it just means that my natural strength in writing comes from another place.
I can stick with something, even when I’m not sure about it.
I’ll be honest, this one surprised me. Like I said, I had my doubts I’d make it this far. But I read a book that gave me a framework to gamify my life. Since then, I’ve been able to consistently exercise more, write in a daily gratitude journal, meditate, book concrete travel plans, and so much more. Turns out that when I view life like it’s a big game, I’m a lot more motivated to play to win!
Karate has become a part of who I am.
When I first started this blog, karate was something I did. After so long training though, it’s become part of who I am. I see in the world lessons I’ve learned in the dojo, and I see in the dojo lessons I’ve learned in the world.
This is the reason why I haven’t written about karate in a while – its value lately has been internal for me, as opposed to right at the forefront of my mind. Make no mistake, I’ll write about it again soon. For now though, I’m stopping to appreciate what my karate journey has meant to me.
Progress on the things that really matter is hard-earned.
I read this everywhere. I got it. Or at least, I thought I did. I kind of figured, “yeah, but if I set my mind to it, it’s not that hard.” Turns out I was utterly, wildly wrong. Take living a minimalistic life, for example. The gist is to shift your mindset to value experiences more than stuff, and to be content with less.
I want that. I want to want less. And yet, despite that, it’s really, really hard not to buy that extra accessory, or a new set of patio furniture for the deck. Even when I do set my mind to it, it’s tough going.
But you know what?
That’s table stakes. Setting your mind to it isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. No progress can happen without that determination and focus. But it alone isn’t enough. You need to get comfortable with discomfort. Find the joy and satisfaction in making short-term sacrifices.
I’m not where I want to be with this yet, and I may never get there. But I’m making progress. And every time I do, I grow as a person. That’s all that matters to me. It’s the journey, not the destination.
Wrapping it Up
It’s been a crazy 18 months. So many amazing things have happened in my life, and I have so much to be thankful for. I will continue to use this site as a place to do just that, reflecting and sharing my learnings and stories with you all.
Again, I want to thank everyone who has come to my site to see what I have to say. There aren’t many of you, but for some reason you guys keep coming back, and seem to give a damn about what I have to say. I can’t tell you what that means to me. If it came down to choosing between a million visitors who didn’t care at all what I wrote about, or 100 visitors who did, I’d take the 100. Every, damn, time.
