This must be my fourth or fifth attempt to start blogging… Last time I was actually going quite strong, committed to writing regularly, until I realised (too late) that the platform I was using has shut down and suddenly I was not able to download any of my writing. All gone.
Anyways, the reason why I started writing last time (about a year ago), was that I realised writing is my weakest point and it was very difficult to me to write even a single line that would sound just a tiny bit interesting. So exactly for that reason I thought to myself that I really need to practice writing regularly, because practice is what makes us better, right? Even if we really, really hate it – trust me it does get better once you pass a certain threshold. I recently started classes in ballroom dancing and my teacher calls it an ‘awkward stage’. It applies anywhere. Back to the story – this was my motivation a year ago but Posterous’ closure has stopped me from writing (I know, poor excuse).
And now I’m back to the blogo-sphere and 2 paragraph down the line it doesn’t seem as hard as it used to! Why? Maybe because in between I have written thousands and thousands of words – for academic research papers, not blogs though. It just proves the point that whatever it is you hate and you’re really bad at at – just practice the opposite – getting BETTER and you will become better.
One last though – closure of my previous blog and losing all of the articles I have written there made me very nervous about a lack of ownership of the data we post online. Previously, it didn’t even cross my mind, but imagine this : What if the only place where you stored your pictures was Facebook and it suddenly closed down? What if have never kept any business cards and managed your professional life entirely on LinkedIn and it closed down? What if all your music was on Spotify and it closed down? What if all your files were on Dropbox and then it shut down taking it all down… ? These are just few scary thoughts to plant into your mind and reconsider what you think about the data ownerships online. Whatever you post is out there and most likely you don’t even have a right to it. What do you do then? You retrieve back to the cave, back to the non-digital life… or just keep doing what you’re doing hoping that the technology you use won’t disappear. I hope for that too, because I do heavily rely on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Spotify/Dropbox and many many others!
Millennial Banter 