post limbo
positive pressure
I sit at my desk wondering why I have nothing good to share. Believe it or not, I have been building up to this moment for my entire life thus far. Every thought and exchange is a draft to publish.
Each draft has a different purpose. Some urge myself to take action on intentions that matter. Some share cherished moments with others. Some display on your computer screen like this one. Others get seen only by my own eyes.
All these ideas have relatives wanting to continue their lineage. I view my communication as a market, an economy unto itself.
post limbo
Many drafts get stuck over minutiae. I question whether to write them down or type them up. I compare text editors, blogging platforms, and site generators to no end. I deliberate on how the covered subject matter can best represent me. Is this needed?
Let me coin a phrase from a few angles. "Post limbo."
One angle is being stuck churning drafts that go nowhere. Travelers wander in the dark forest of many outlines. They spin yarns about big bad beasts intimidating them. The unending tedium of refinement they say they suffer is self-deception. Much of it stems from fear: out of control perfectionism, vulnerability, and hypothesizing.
Another angle questions and answers for what happens after limbo. The results subvert expectations from our scared selves. When we help people through what we have to say, everyone can benefit.
What other angles exist?
rhythm and yield
People often compare quality and quantity. Yet, quality requires quantity. All the ill-informed quantity in the world yields something of quality. Worst case, mistakes generate lessons.
Comparing consistency and quantity is more contextual and less clear. Entering a swimming pool can be a complex affair. Some cannonball into the deep end. This creates a large splash and immediate, sudden immersion. Some dip their toes at the shallow end, then tiptoeing down steps into the pool. Some sit at the edge, then drop in. Some get pushed in. Some don't make it. Some defeat limbo with consistency. Others defeat it with quantity. Others with both.
You never enter the same pool twice, nor in the same way twice.
overcoming fear
Facing your fears can help mitigate, if not dissipate them.
People worry that their creations are not original enough to share with the world. The typical retort is that "there is nothing new under the sun." You are most invested in your own ideas. Reinventing the wheel can help you learn the rules to better understand how to break them.
A cure to stage fright is getting on stage and realizing your capability. You are not a puppeteer of the audience. They are as imperfect and human as you are. Both parties are looking for the other to succeed with their goals and dreams. Train yourself to the standard you want to meet.
Life is connection. We do it everyday whether with our own thoughts or with people we care about. Others unearthing connections based on your shared thoughts are outcomes from their actions. They are also outcomes from your perspective. Your area of effect can only be so large before it's uncontrollable. The fringes are the weakest. Hold your agency tight.
Haters need you more than you think. How else will they hate you? This demands that they're serious about hating you in the first place.
When life circumstances permit, form strong local bonds. Connect with family, friends, colleagues, and other trusted tangible individuals. There's something to share with or about them that you want the world to see.
delivery before material
There is no perfect platform. Compromise after comparison to dismantle perfectionism. Language stands independent from workflow, design, and other auxiliary qualities. Reducing the choice down to sharing or not clarifies the costs and benefits. Quicker decisions quicken sharing and connection with yourself and others.
If you're scared of falling for the analytics trap, turn it off. Practice speaking to nobody the same way you speak to everybody.
Nothing to talk about? Talk about anything you wish. Speak gibberish if you must to get the blood flowing. If you're stuck, try something else and then come back to it. If the sunk cost feels too great, take a break. Breaks can be good. They can leave you rejuvenated enough to have something to talk about later.
When in doubt, deliver.
immortal communication
Life is a game of limbo. We compete against past selves to traverse under lower and lower bars. Believe you can self-select to greatness.
Limbo doesn't stop after we die. It stops once our gifts to the world and their offspring go extinct, if ever. We are our material selves as much as our immaterial impacts. Share good with the world, then leave more good behind.
This limbo bar doesn't have to obey physics. People visit your grave even after you get buried six feet under. They remind themselves of you in ways that you may never fathom. May you dodge immaterial burials. Should you not, let them be as plentiful as stars in the night sky. Good luck cremating your immateriality. Cultivate conversations and community now while you are still alive. This lays the groundwork for scattering your mental ashes well into the future.
adjusting scope
Make connections by thinking outside the box and against the current. Lower the limbo bar on wordy concepts. Repetition and reinvention condenses wisdom into its distilled essence. "Don't die" contains the world.
Understanding the scale of the world is a rite of passage. Understanding the scale of your language should be the same. Realize how you can share your message in different contexts. Different lengths, mediums, and approaches tune messages to access audiences. A responsive language system can mitigate fear.
Where's the bar for yourself and your standard of communication? Unless you become immersed in the activity, can you pinpoint where the bar is? How high is high, how low is low? Which way is up, what is your top, what is your bottom?
Finality means nothing in the connective realm of blogs, posts, and people. Should your thoughts leave this mortal plane, may your thoughts manifest elsewhere.
Everything finished was once, and still is, unfinished.