I’ve decided to make a few changes to Slow dude to help me refine its focus and look at particular areas in a more detailed and real way. So far, it has largely been a collection of travel, health, productivity and personal insight type posts, basically whatever was foremost in my mind when I sat down to write. But from here, I’d like to focus more on productivity and personal development, from a slow dude perspective.
I am still likely to veer off message occasionally and will also continue to transfer over posts from my Japan and health Websites but I plan to mostly concentrate on these areas. That said, even within this scope, there are still a huge number of potential topics so I actually hope to further refine things as I go.
So, why consciously limit myself? Why not just write about what interests me when it interests me? Basically, because of time and utility. My goal for slowdude.com is to investigate areas that will help me, and anyone kind enough to read, to continue moving toward a happier and more fulfilled life. My time to do this, however, is extremely limited so I need to stay close to my purpose to get decent results.
The wider view
Probably that last paragraph above seems fairly obvious but one of the key things I’ve realized since starting this site is how tight, and precious, our time really is. It’s a theme that has already come up in several other posts. We need to be very conscious about how we use our time and must often choose between and consequently let go of various equally desirable alternatives.
In this case, for example, I love investigating and sharing information about nutrition. Likewise, when I travel somewhere, my first instinct is write a post to let other people know about the good things to do there. But in reality, I don’t have time to cover it all and I feel that diving into slow dude productivity and personal development will benefit me, and you, most.
For similar reasons, I also plan to return to a simpler, more flowing, and hopefully more lyrical, writing style. I had been experimenting with a denser approach that I thought might add depth to my posts but when it comes to writing, I think I’m more a painter than a sculptor. Whenever I read other people’s work, I’m always interested in their technique so I mention this mostly for any writers out there.
It is, however, part of the wider question of self-identity I have been looking at recently. When I first wrote about this last month, I said I basically considered myself to be a writer. But since then, I have come to the conclusion that I am equally, if not more, a researcher, or perhaps actually just a searcher.
From this perspective, I believe I need to put more emphasis on the results of my searching, the message, than the medium, the writing. Or in more practical terms, spend less time on, for example, crafting sentences and more on actually creating content and communicating. All of my points above really come down to this same thing. In any case, if future posts seem a bit rough or rushed, please kindly assume this is the reason.
Personal revelation
The other big change I’m planning is to be more open about the things that make me who I am. I have tried to do this to some degree already but my main instinct is to gloss over things that might show me in a less positive light. Everyone does this, of course, but if I am going to use this site to investigate things that can help me and others, then I need to be more relevatory. As a hardcore introvert, this is a rather unsettling idea.
Don’t worry, I won’t be unloading anything too toe curling. I’m thinking particularly about health issues, both physical and mental, of which I have plenty, but also fears, doubts, hopes… Mostly I plan to post information about areas I am trying to improve so I believe it will be positive and helpful. Looking back, I have made some major progress over the last few years and I would like to share that.
By way of example, I am currently making a push to improve my insomnia and chronic headaches and migraines. They’re not really things you bring up in conversation but at the same time, they have an enormous impact on my life. Try living in some degree of pain every day and tell me they don’t count. I’m sure you have your own challenges, including some you may even try to deny to yourself.
As I said, I want to keep this positive. Because I’m happy to say these days I generally am positive and focused on making things better. That has certainly improved a whole lot in the last couple of years. Part of it has been trying to gradually accept who I am, which is in fact what underpins this effort to be more open. You can’t really expect to change yourself unless you know yourself. Well, let’s just see how I do…
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