I, Rishi Dhanaraj, will publish a post on this blog every day until the end of Q1 2023 (March 31, 2023).

Why

Why am I writing again? Well, I love reading and writing and I miss both.

I wrote enough in the past that I have cravings for it. For one thing, when I read a line that moves me, or experience something interesting, I feel a little tug to save it and share it and express it in the right words.

But more than anything I miss living in the world of stories and ideas. It gives life more meaning. When I'm writing, everything I experience and read and watch is fodder for my blog. All my inputs and experiences have use.

I read earlier this week you can assess the level of meaning in your life along three dimensions, one of which is cohesiveness—the sense that events fit together and happen for a reason.

Writing gives me that sense of meaning.

Why I stopped writing in the first place

I tried to write brilliant articles week over week, and that was too much for me. It took me a long time to admit. I bit off more than I could chew, and chewed it out of stubbornness.

I also had a job I wasn't crazy about, and I needed to de-prioritize writing to focus on job hunting.

Moving forward

I want writing to be a side thing.

I want writing to be a habit gently humming in the background, while I pursue whatever I'm into at the time. Right now, I'm lifting, meditating, socializing, dating, and learning Korean. I don't want to go back to a life where I just write.

I'm inspired by my friend James. We started writing together in January 2020, but while I wrote in bursts, he wrote consistently, specifically daily. He's been able to keep up short daily posts even with other priorities (job hunting, traveling, moving).

I'll need to learn to keep my posts short, or unedited, or both. I struggle with that. This post itself took too long to be sustainable.

Why now

I found myself thinking—or rather, journaling—that I should start writing again on January 1st. But then I thought, why not now?

We all have incredible, soul-filling activities we can pursue, that we push off to New Years or some indeterminate date.

How much more wonderful the world would be if we—you, me—started doing those things today?