A couple of years ago I watched a vlogbrothers video where John Green, the author and Youtuber, discusses what’s important to keep. He mentions how he only has one photo of himself from the age of 23 and goes on to mention that a lot of what once filled the internet has already been lost. This got me thinking about my own life and how I can’t really remember, or have little reference to, a very large proportion of it. I feel like it’s already been lost. At the time of writing this I am 26, I grew up in the UK during the mainstream transition from analogue to digital and I still lack any real records, either physical or digital, of most of my life. Sure, there are some photos somewhere in my family home and in various places online but piecing together a competent story of my life from those will be tricky to say the least. However, photos only tell part of the tale, and as Instagram has shown, it very often tells a majorly skewed story at that.
So that’s what this is aiming to fix. I want it to be a place where I can document my thoughts on anything that I want. A way for me to put my thoughts out there to be challenged and to challenge. A way that I can keep myself accountable and keep my goals in check. I will also help me to reflect. I’m a big believer in taking a few hours a month or a year to check back to see how far you’ve come. I think being able to contretise that reflection increases the sense of accomplishment and helps accelerate progress. This blog will be a way to do that.
One of the strangest things about becoming an adult was the realisation that my parents had full lives before I was born. It then dawned on me that I know very little about that and I doubt they have a clear, unbiased memory of how it actually was. I feel as though my future self (and maybe future family) could find it interesting to be able to look back and see what I was like and if/how I’ve changed since then, not only through photos stored elsewhere, but also through the thoughts and opinions that I had at the time. I think it’d be interesting for me to document in a way that’s more than just a diary or journal, but instead structure a series of writings about things that interest me at this point in time, aiming to not only document but also advise, theorise and critique mine and other’s thoughts and opinions.
But why make this public then? I think if just one person who randomly stumbles across this blog reads something and takes some kind of value from it, or experiences another perspective, or questions their own beliefs and biases then it’ll have been worth it. Many of the people who have been the greatest influences on my life have no idea I even exist, so me being the optimist I am thinks that even if I never know it happens, maybe someone might value some of what I have to say.
So with all that in mind, we’ll see how this turns out. It might be another webpage that gets lost to the history of the internet due to my negligence or maybe the server that these files are on goes up in flames without ever being backed up. Whatever happens, I’m glad I’ve actually started, I’m glad I’ve done something and I’m glad I’m finally putting it out there for people to read.
Date: 15/03/2020
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia