BLOG: short name for a weB-LOG. It is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.
408 blog postings later, I am now into my 6+ year of penning down my thoughts since Apr 2016. Time indeed flies…
Back in 2016, I was at the crossroad of my life journey as I was trying to figure out what to do next. I had just resigned from my old job which I hated so much and was looking to start a new business venture on retirement homes (which eventually did not happen). I had just turned 50, hence the title of my blog address – Musings of a 50-year-old boy.
I wanted to chart a new direction to make meaning of what I would like to do next in my life, having reached my halftime crisis moment a few years prior in 2012 after being retrenched from a 19-year bank career. I had time on my hand as I had stopped working full time and was thinking of doing something impactful and memorable for myself.
Maintaining a blog requires discipline as it is a long-term commitment to publishing regularly while constantly thinking of a topic to write about. Should I talk about current news events or something personal that happened that week? I have to be thick-skinned enough to bare my soul to the world, yet no one may ever bother to read them at all. I had to condition and change my mindset to say “screw it and let’s just go ahead”. There is nothing to lose for an uncle who is already active on social media (FB, Instagram, LinkedIn etc) anyway.
I started with an online crash course on how I can create my own website address to start the blog. WordPress was the leading candidate which was the easiest to set up (as others like WIX only came much later). I followed step-by-step guides to create my space in the cloud and duly paid for the rights to www.musingsofa50yearoldboy.com plus an annual package to host the blog. It came up to about $150+ of sunk cost even before I started writing down my first virgin blog LOL…
In the beginning, I was overly ambitious and wanted to blog daily. I would force myself to sit in front of the PC every day to crunch something out, the thought of the day. It was painful at the start to always think of something to say, be it nonsensical or frivolous. The early blogs were short and personal, amateurish at best.
I eventually settled on publishing weekly blogs instead. I had more time and data to work on after 7 days. To compensate, my weekly pieces slowly became slightly longer. To date, they are about 1,000+ words in length. I had settled into a regular process of being able to churn out a few hundred words easily once I set my mind on the topics to be discussed to type away at my keyboard.
I usually begin my new blog on a Saturday morning with the first draft, aiming to publish by the end of the day or latest on Sunday. Grammarly is my go-to tool to help correct awkward grammatical mistakes and misspellings. I will usually do a final read of the article before pressing the send button.
I don’t advertise my website to catch eyeballs as I really don’t care if no one reads it. But the ego does feels good whenever I check the statistics and see a nice uptick. The analytical tool also shows me geographically the countries where the readers are from.
Sometimes I post the blog link to social media discussions where the topic is similar to my weekly writeup, like the recent mass shootings in America. I also am active on the Clubhouse app as I listen into my favourite rooms on a daily basis and I add the link to my intro bio there too.
Over these past 6 years, I believe that blogging has helped me to become a better writer. I am able to articulate my thoughts more consciously, direct from my brain to the PC. To prepare for some difficult subjects, I am sometimes forced to research more more to fact-check myself.
I begin by reviewing my iPhone calendar of my daily activities and reminders for the week to try to form the things I want to write. Sometimes, like this week, nothing much happens and I will be scratching my head to think of a topic that spans a longer period or to share a past experience and what I learned from it.
The blog also gives me clarity on my personal thoughts as I needed to formulate my argument to take a stand and state in on record in writing. It also forces me to action as I have committed to the world what I intend to do and keeps me focused on accomplishing them eg. my annual year resolution lists.
By talking about my game plans, I am able to track and monitor my progress and fine-tune it along the way. It pushes me to focus on the important things currently going on in my life and help me ignore the non-relevant fluffy noises.
I think that my writing quality has also improved over the years because of my blogging. I spend time gathering my thoughts together and then when I start to put them into writing, the flow is smooth as I compose them into words.
It sets a disciplined and weekly routine for me to organize my thinking to stay focused on what is important and to spend quality time on it, rather than wasting unnecessary minutes watching TikTok and youtube videos, which I still do…. LOL
Sometimes, I occasionally look back to my old blogs to re-read and review them again, just to check if my thinking has changed or to help reaffirm and strengthen my convictions. It is an “ownself-check-ownself” mechanism to remain true to myself and also to better understand the inner me. No apologies to the world as I bare my thoughts to the world without fear. It is almost refreshing sometimes to bring my inner soul out into the open, sharing my secrets with the world… I have enough materials now to publish my own e-book 🙂
The next phase of my objective to be a lifelong student has begun. My application to the new RISE 2.0 program had resulted in an aptitude test and a Zoom interview this week. Hopefully, I can start the 10 weeks full-time course soon. It will also coincide with a possible new consultancy project during the last quarter of the year. This project has elements of ESG leading to carbon credits that interest me about its limitless upside potential.
Another event that is keeping me occupied will be the class reunion to happen in mid-Aug. Our last one was in 2016, 6 years ago. We had wanted to do it again in 2021 as we turn 55 and call it the CPF Withdrawal Reunion. But thanks to Covid, we could not. Better late than never. It is now the “Post-CPF” Reunion. Looking forward to a full calendar for the remaining months of 2022.
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