Hello! It has been almost three years since I blogged. I have been busy. But, honestly, I fell out of habit. Some enabling circumstances encouraged this departure. I'll try to touch upon those enabling circumstances briefly and what I could learn from this departure. Also, why am I back here again?
The macro enabler of the departure has been life, in general. I have been pursuing higher studies, a job, married my love and maintained a bloated list of 'projects' I am interested in. At the same time, I have grown older and probably dumber. In short, life has become a little more complex. Amidst these competing concerns, I tend to lose perspective on the things that matter. Ironically, things that we classify as essential for our enrichment are the ones that get tossed out the moment situations get a little tougher.
I know I must exercise regularly. I know I must journal religiously. I know I must not take everything very seriously, particularly the ones that pose as serious things - blind deadlines, for example. I know I must take some things seriously - a consistent and judicious effort to meet deadlines, for example. I know I must reach out to friends more often; they are just as busy and possibly in similar circumstances. I know I must always take time to slow down and take stock. I know! I know! I know!
Knowing is not enough. Acting on it is. As my Professor says, meeting deadlines is a habit, and missing deadlines is also a habit. I can see how this is true on both individual and group levels. It starts as a valid excuse for the first time, and then finding excuses becomes a habit. The excuses are not even lies - they're all true. I have been extremely busy and mostly exhausted at the end of the day. But I think many of the missed expectations have to do with how we commit, prioritize, and communicate. If I am committed to finishing my plate, I should probably learn not to take so much on it at a time! That includes saying "no" or "not now" to myself as well.
Why return to the blog now? One reason is that I am still ambitious and starry-eyed about the writing process. I haven't given up on it. I want to get better at it, and writing unabashedly in a journal doesn't meet that desire. Writing documentation or technical papers doesn't assuage my need for diffused writing. Another reason is maintenance. If I don't use this place, there is little incentive to maintain, let alone renovate it. That, too, has multiple order effects. What I learned while creating my website has enriched my professional life without actively striving for it. Finally, I want to write because I want to read more. The two seem to have an intricate relationship inside my head. I won't explain why. I can't.
Hence, here's to another beginning!
