Here’s another mantra I’ve embraced lately…
“Let go of thorough.”
And by that I mean, let go of the goal of being thorough, comprehensive, in your reflecting upon things and then writing out your reflections in this blog.
It’s always been helpful to me when I take the time to think some things through, and talk it over, even if just to myself as I’m driving along in the car. (I do that a lot, honestly.) And so now it’s been helpful to be doing that in the context of this blog. Great.
But the trap I can fall into is thinking to myself, Well then, I want to make sure I cover everything. No thought left behind. No musing left un-recorded. And that is a trap. That does turn what might be a blessing into a burden instead. And that’s when this otherwise helpful practice becomes something you’re less likely to do.
Ironic, I suppose. You tell yourself, Record everything…and it’s precisely that misguided, burdensome self-counsel that leads you to stop recording anything. The blog goes silent.
And it’s not just the blog that goes silent. To some degree your mind winds down too. I think I’ve mentioned this before, that I’ve found the practice of blogging to heighten mental activity and fertility. And I love that. I’m grateful for that. I feel like I’m thinking more, and more fruitfully. But as soon as I create the expectation of comprehensiveness, all of that starts to slow down, and maybe even grind to a halt.
Far batter to let go of thorough. To realize—and tell yourself—that you can’t think through everything, and then record everything you’ve thought.
So no, this blog isn’t going to be a complete record of my musings beginning in April of 2021. No one’s blog can be that, or should. (Those who attempt it only succeed in wearing out themselves and their readers.) This is going to be a place where I type out some things, the thoughts that seem most useful to record here, while others blissfully flit on by.
Much better.
Let go.