On April 1, 2013, I published the first post for this version of my website.
At the time I wrote that post, I had shared about my desire to teach others—specifically in the topic of software development.
The reason for this was because at the time, I was still fresh in my career in software development and so that was where a lot of my focus was.
While the focus of this site might have been about software development in the beginning, I’ve definitely covered a lot of different topics.
I had struggled with this for a long time.
You see, I have been on the Internet for 20+ years now. And I remember in the beginning the Internet was a really fun, exciting place to be.
I remember sitting at my parents house at night wondering whether the modem would make a successful connection to the Internet, to be greeted by AOL’s, “You’ve got mail” message.
Let me tell you, listening to those dial tones and waiting to see if you’ll reach that greeting was something that got your heart racing.
Or at least it did for me at the time.
The Internet felt like a magical gateway where you can visit these foreign places around the world and connect with strangers outside of your neighborhood, your state, your continent.
But somewhere along the 20+ year journey to this moment now, I had heard many voices claim that I had to just focus on one thing and share about that one thing here on the Internet.
Cause if you do, the Internet would reward you for it. But the more I leaned into that mindset, the magic of the Internet started to fade away.
Instead of creating for the pure expression of life and sharing your own experience, creating became an unwinnable game of emotional slots.
Will my title resonate with Google?
Can I share and get likes and retweets on Twitter?
What should I write about to beat viewership over that person over there?
And I tried.
To stay focused. To play the game.
But what I realized in my 8 years of writing on this site is that life happens and it changes you.
You have seasons in your life and from those seasons, comes beautiful lessons that can’t and shouldn’t be encapsulated to one’s profession or career.
As I look to the future of this site, I think I’m finally at a place where I’m comfortable returning to creating for the sake of creating.
If what I create resonates with others, I think that’s great. But it isn’t the sole reason to create.
The purpose of creating is to express the different aspects of who I am—my identity.
So what will the site look like from here?
To be honest, I’m not sure.
Some of it will still be about software development and the world of information technology. But that…that will just be a sliver.
What I can say for sure is, I’ve made it 8 years now on this site. And with many more years, I look forward to sharing more of what I learn—that, I can stay committed to.
Sharing not for an algorithm or a “like” but authentically.