After some early success getting traffic to the blog and getting some content curated on Medium.com, it was very easy to fall into the trap of stats and views. It is very, very enticing to log on and see how many new views and claps and site sessions have occurred in the past two hours. It seemed like fun to go check out the articles on how to get more eyeballs on your articles and how to write better titles. But after a while I realized that I was moving away from my vision. I was attempting to write for what I thought these articles wanted. I found my feed filled with the seemingly same advice articles over and over. All of a sudden this didn’t seem like so much fun anymore.

To top it off I hit some major writers block. After writing some pieces that I was very proud of I was trying to force the words and ended up just sitting in front of the keyboard letting myself get distracted and pulled away from what I was really enjoying. This right here. The nearly unconscious flow of words from my brain through my fingers into these keys and onto the screen in front of me. There is no audience for these words other than my eyeballs. There is nothing that I have to prove here. I only need to make myself happy.

Therefore, this is my reminder, to me, right here and now.

Dear me,

Stop being so serious.
Remember that you are doing this for fun.

You haven’t quit your day job. Yes, you made money last month. $7.58. From one viewpoint, this is not that impressive. It is maybe enough for a fancy cup of coffee. It is a drop in the bucket compared to the biggest authors on Medium that are pulling in more than $22,000 in a single month.

Or you can step back and realize that there are actual live people out there in the world reading your words. Seeing your ideas. Agreeing and disagreeing with you. Two months ago you made $0 from your articles. One month ago you wrote your way to $0.43.

Be yourself and keep speaking your voice. That voice has already reached people all over the world. The United States, Brazil, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, India, France, China, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Just like everyone else out there, your ideas matter.

You will get there. Have some patience and persistence. Your words matter. You matter.

Don’t be afraid to re-evaluate, re-tool, and re-energize yourself. Today is January 1. There is whole new year in front of you. Tomorrow is Jan 2. There will be a whole new year in front of that day too. You have more wisdom now than you have ever had before in your life. Tomorrow you will have just a little bit more.

Keep going because no matter what, I believe in you.

Sincerely,
Me (You)

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Welcome to a new year and a new day!