Fool’s Gold

Why blog?

I’ve been debating opening a blog for quite some time; in the past few days, I’ve been exploring Bear’s Discover page, and it provided me with countless pockets of joy that I wouldn’t have found elsewhere online.

Many entries deeply resonated with me. It seems like I’m not the only millennial who’s tired of doomscrolling, and I’m happy to see that many people are going back to their roots (our roots), finding or creating little digital alcoves in which to live peacefully, going back to small, personal sites to call home.

The reason why I haven’t started yet (except for a short lived attempt at Bear at the beginning of 2024) is that, because of my relationship with social media, I’ve actually forgotten how to blog. There is a specific vulnerability in putting your thoughts to words, and when it comes to writing a personal entry, it’s hard to properly see the line between crafting a narrative and oversharing. Weirdly enough, this isn’t an issue I have with social media, where I’ve posted huge chunks of my life for more than 15 years. A precise chronicle of where I’m going, how I’m spending my time, who I’m with, what food I’m eating — all told through a series of public-facing Instagram stories and posts? Easy as pie. A more direct and personal mini-essay, where I express myself in more than a few sentences? Suddenly, the thought gets scary.

I don’t know why that is; why I give so much of myself away in places where maybe I shouldn’t, and why I’ve failed to cultivate the spaces that could actually help me grow in small, incremental steps. Writing is, after all, a muscle, and a blogging practice would be a fantastic way to keep it exercised. On top of that, it’s also an exercise in self expression and honesty; a grounding practice of sorts. But it still comes with a lot of caveats, and doubts, and fears and questions, like:

How much of my life am I willing to share on here? How honest can I really be, with myself and people who might bump into my blog and give it a read? How do I tie my blog to my normal social media presence? Should I?

Moreover, because I already have several beautiful physical journals, I asked myself if I really wanted to embark on another memory logging project. I reasoned that these different journals have different purposes; I use my Hobonichi Techo to log quick memories and photos, my proper journal to write longhand recaps of my days, and this blog here could help me explore things, ponder, wander around and connect with people on a deeper level than traditional social media.

hobonichi2025

I gave it a good think, and came up with these fundamental pillars from my blogging practice.

My plan is to pop up on here every once in a while, when I have something to say, or even when I don’t; to force myself to observe the world around me and create something out of it, be it a thought, a question, a series of photos. Who knows? With blogging, the possibilities are truly endless. I hope you’ll stick around to see what happens.

Giving back to the community

Here’s some posts I’ve read and enjoyed recently!

#blog