“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” 

– Vincent van Gogh

You’ll have noticed that I’ve eased back on blogging.

Going forward, my aim is to blog once a week, most likely on a Tuesday.

I was going to link it to a memorable name i.e. ‘Tuesday Thinking’ but I thought it would restrict the purview of the topics that I may want to cover.

In the early days, I blogged once a day, and on occasion I maintained that blogging output across two blogs (one on Typepad – thanks Seth Godin – and on a self-hosted WordPress platform).

Thankfully, those days are long gone. I can’t now recall when I pulled the pin on such ritualistic behaviour but it was probably at the same time I recognised that making money out of blogging was not my thing. I blogged for one reason and one reason alone – I enjoyed the process. Also, you will have seen me ease back on talking about social media. Again, there was no defining moment but it was simply the case I felt that I had said everything that I needed to say.

What of the future?

What of it?

The truth is that I can’t predict what I will write about save that it will mean something to me. The thesis won’t change – awaken the genius within – but I’m not going to lay down a whole bunch of topics in the hope that I can turn them into something else.

It’s taken me a long time to reach this point, but I’ve never felt more at peace with myself. You see, I’ve opened this creative channel which is a metaphor for my own genius (trust me I’m not attempting to blow smoke up my own…), and I don’t intend to curtail it.

I’ve vast experience of the world of work but I know that nothing I’ve done in the past 30 years has touched me in the same way as my current path. It started with social media, found a canvas in poetry and right now is being expressed through daily writing, drawing and poetry.

I suppose the major difference, both personally and professionally, is that in the past a lot of what I did was forced. I don’t mean in a fake sort of way, but I wasn’t completely sure about the new path I’d chosen.

Now.

I know what it feels like to come alive in my work.

I’m not pushing something because I feel it will benefit me. I’m doing the work because I love the work. That’s all.

In addition to my blogging output, I will continue to produce a daily podcast on Audioboo and a steady steam of poetry which I will exhibit on Tumblr. I don’t intend to go back on this commitment save where I’m taken by an idea and can’t leave it to the following week. Apart from anything else, I know that if I put all my energies into blogging, as I had in the past, it will detract from my writing. For me, writing daily has never been an issue. And if I can translate that into the bushel of works that I feel I’m capable of then I will leave a legacy greater than a few million words on this blog and other online spaces.

I’m also committed to working with people who feel they too have a true calling and instead pursued a shadow career.  I intend to offer coaching via Campfire in the same way that my wonderfully inspiring teacher Ando Perez has worked with me. In the past I played this part timid. No more. I genuinely feel I’ve something to offer.

Finally, I intend to restart my newsletter. I let it lapse but I still believe it’s one of the best ways to connect with people, particularly those that are not plugged into social media.

If you’ve yet to discover your blogging balance, then I’m not going to tell what you should do. My journey is not yours. But all I will say is that absent blogging I remain convinced that I would never have rediscovered my creative self, which I firmly believe lives inside all of us.

If you haven’t yet blogged then you should. Do it for the love of the art. Nothing else.

Until next week.

– Julian.

PS. Here is my favourite TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert. Even if you’ve previously watched it, I still recommend that you find the time to do so again. You never know where it might lead.

PPS. The current list of Audioboo recordings