Why throw it all away?
Clearly something touched a nerve.
When I wrote that I had deleted all of my social media posts and was starting over, I didn't expect to receive hundreds of responses. (seriously, here's a look at my inbox)
95% of people were supportive and encouraging and curious. Plenty explained how they had considered doing something similar.
A few people however, asked why I would ”throw it all away,” or warned me to think twice before hitting the delete button.
Here’s how I'm thinking about this. It’s more of a digital housecleaning than a complete reboot. Yes, I’m deleting a lot, but I’m also planning to keep the content that is truly substantive or valuable. I’ll also consider selling some projects or maintaining others in a low-effort way.
Essentially, I want to make digital room for who I’ve become, and who I intend to be. Much of the old content isn’t serving the new me.
What prompted all this?
Almost three years ago, my business partner (Chase) and I split ways. Since then, I’ve felt like I’ve been going through the motions. Keeping the lights on. My past decisions were dictating my present day-to-day.
I have also been asking myself what I envision doing a decade or two from now. How will working online feel when I'm 50, or 60? What value can I bring to the world, and how will I fit in?
Plus, the world has changed since I started blogging almost 12 years ago.
It’s hard to keep it in perspective, but the things that consume most of our days now are only a decade or two old. Podcasts, social media, blogging, YouTube, they're all so new.
It’s not natural for every thought or scribble you’ve produced to exist publicly for everyone to see for all time. I don’t think we’ve come to terms with that yet, nor do we know how it is affecting all of us.
I’m a huge fan of digital media, but we should all be consuming and producing it more intentionally, in a way that serves us, as opposed to us serving it.
Like I said in my last post, I don’t know where this is all going, but I thought I may as well have this conversation out loud. There’s plenty more to come.