Everything changes, everything stays the same
Every morning I start my day by writing into my Journey journal. I’ve been writing in it for 7 years now.
What I love about the app is that it shows me entries from that day from the previous years. Which means I can see, sometimes, if I’ve been consistent, 7 entries of what I was going through.
The most fascinating thing is how much and how little has changed.
In almost every situation, I’ve achieved the things I dreamed about years ago.
In other situations, I worry about the same things. My health. Money. My relationships. Will I ever have time to rest?
It’s such a great reminder of how time is going to pass regardless.
The things that worry you won’t matter in 1, 3, 7 years from now.
At the same time, it’s a nudge to just live the life and do what you want now, because time passes by very fast.
And the worst thing you can read are entries of you wishing for the same things every year, hoping that day will come.
Reflecting on 30 days of blogging
I hit the 30 day streak of daily blogging!
Some thoughts:
It was mostly easier than I thought. Before I knew it, I was on day 28 and 29.
The pressure to blog daily forced me to phone it in a few days. I would say that the quality wasn’t there all the time, but maybe that’s a good thing. I found in the past that thinking every post needed to be epic stopped me from posting at all.
I’m not sure if I want to continue to post everyday But I like the idea of writing something everyday, but posting when something is ready.
Day 17
I passed the half-way point of my 30-day daily blogging challenge.
When I first started Obsessed it felt daunting thinking about carving out time to write and fill up my blog.
Daily blogging has been a great reminder to focus on the system rather than the outcome.
A blog filled with post will take care of itself if I’m blogging daily.
I already have 17 more post than I did when I started!
This is something I’m trying to apply in other areas of my life, like drawing and my health routine.
The return of the personal blog
The Verge recently argued for a personal blogging renaissance.
We seem to be on the same page. Obsessed.blog was started out of nostalgia for personal blogging.
Will it ever return to its glory days?
I doubt it.
The “rewards” from alternatives like Tik Tok are more enticing.
Will more influential people start doing it?
It's possible.
I think sharing and telling stories is in our DNA. It builds communities.
Blogging (and writing for that matter) works your thinking muscles. Blogging daily has sharpened my thinking.
It's also a great way to organize photos and thoughts that usually sit in Notepad and Photos.
I’m hoping the general distaste for social media these days will push a good handful to start their own blogs.
Handwriting porn
Oscar Wilde’s handwriting
Handwriting is my favorite thing to photograph whenever I visit museums.
Outside of the cool factor of being able to see how famous people who’ve died 100+ years ago wrote, there’s something so intimate about it.
Banker J.P. Morgan’s receipt for the book Ulysses from Shakespear & Co. bookstore in Paris
Mozart’s signature, from the collection of (of course) J.P. Morgan
Lists
I love a good list.
Something about people distilling things into neat, tidy lists is so satisfying.
I enjoy lists that are guidelines — like cartoonist Chuck Jones’ rules for writing Road Runner cartoons. Or conman Victor Lustig (known for “selling” the Eiffel Tower) commandments for aspiring conmen, which includes:
“Hint at sex talk, but don’t follow it up unless the other fellow shows a strong interest.”
My favorite kinds of lists are the ones that give you a peek inside a person's life, like late writer/filmmaker Nora Ephron's list of things she will and won’t miss:
What I Won’t Miss
Dry skin
Bad dinners like the one we went to last night
E-mail
Technology in general
My closet
Washing my hair
Bras
Funerals
Illness everywhere
Polls that show that 32 percent of the American people believe in creationism
Polls
Fox TV
The collapse of the dollar
Bar mitzvahs
Mammograms
Dead flowers
The sound of the vacuum cleaner
Bills
E-mail. I know I already said it, but I want to emphasize it.
Small print
Panels on Women in Film
Taking off makeup every night
What I Will Miss
My kids
Nick
Spring
Fall
Waffles
The concept of waffles
Bacon
A walk in the park
The idea of a walk in the park
The park
Shakespeare in the Park
The bed
Reading in bed
Fireworks
Laughs
The view out the window
Twinkle lights
Butter
Dinner at home just the two of us
Dinner with friends
Dinner with friends in cities where none of us lives
Paris
Next year in Istanbul
Pride and Prejudice
The Christmas tree
Thanksgiving dinner
One for the table
The dogwood
Taking a bath
Coming over the bridge to Manhattan
Pie
For more lists, check out Lists of Note.
The lost art of handwritten thank you notes
Recently, I got a gift and a note from a client.
What I loved about the gift was the little details, like the slash through his name on the note.
I used to see this a lot in cards sent by designers and magazine editors when I worked as a designer.
It’s an old school little detail. The slash signals a closer / more personal relationship with the person. e.g. “Just call me by my first name.”
I've always loved the concept. I try to share this little detail as much as possible since I think handwritten thank you notes are a lost art. It's so much easier to send a text or email. My belief is that things have more meaning when they're less convenient.
I used to carve out a bit of time each week to write notes. They’ve become less frequent as my business has grown, but I’d like to get back into the practice of it.
Here’s how I like to write the perfect thank you note.
Actual thank you card I sent to “The Bike Whisperer”, who taught me how to ride a bike in 20-mins!
Use custom stationary
Having your own stationary really puts you in a unique category. You’re the kind of person that puts effort into things.
I get my stationary from the legendary Terrapin Stationers, they’re the go-to place for people like Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Rolex, and Vogue for their stationary and event invitations.
Pre-write your message
I usually pre-write and edit my message in Notepad before I commit to pen. This helps me avoid having to cross out words or ramble.
Keep it brief
Write no more than 4 sentences.
Anything longer should be saved for a proper letter. I start and end with “Thank you”, and specify why I’m saying thank you in the middle.
Write it in pen
My pen of choice is a Zebra Sarasa gel pen. The black is really dark and dries nearly instantly. It’s the perfect pen for left handers like me. Find one that works for you.
If you’re not as confident with a pen yet, you can use a guideline ruler or write lightly in pencil first. Make sure you ink over it with a pen that’s smudge proof for when you erase the pencil marks.
Write slow
Rushing makes your handwriting sloppy and more likely to make mistakes.
I follow the creed: “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
Add a date
This is optional, but it’s always nice to find a card someone wrote you and look back on that date
If applicable, cross out your last name
It’s a way of saying “We’re close/cool/casual, just call me by my first name.”
If it’s a formal relationship/note (e.g. a business contact) leave your name intact.
Sign it!
Now’s a good time to practice your signature!
Finally, don’t be too precious
it’s ok if it’s crooked or “ugly”. That’s the charm of handwritten notes.
If you want perfect and neat, send an email.
On daily blogging
E.B. White’s amazing writing nook
I left Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover, which was a total shitshow.
It was the cringey Dad-joke moment Musk where I felt it all jumped the shark.
The truth is, I've been reevaluating my relationship with social media long before Musk bought Twitter.
I’ve been nostalgic for the early days of blogging. When we didn't know what SEO was or what we should do for the algorithm.
The first website I built was an Austin Powers fansite / personal blog when I was 14. I created animated gifs of Austin Powers for some reason, and made almost daily journal entries. This was before there dedicated blogging platforms, so I did this all by hand via HTML.
Later, I moved on to Xanga, then Livejournal, then Tumblr, before settling on Wordpress and Squarespace.
Ahhh, the good old days
It was so pure and fun back then.
I decided to take a few pages from Austin Kleon and do a 30-day challenge to blog daily. (For my reward I’ll get myself a nice long massage.)
It's funny how I used to look forward to getting home so I could fire up Livejournal and just write. I wrote about anything and everything. While I got a nice shot of endorphins when a someone would comment, that was never the goal. I seemed to write and put things out into the ether just to put it out there.
To leave a trace of me in the universe.
I want more of that.