A number of you may have noticed that the frequency of posting on this blog has gone down to just over one a week. If you follow Stirrings from below on social media, you may have noticed that I only make an occasional appearance on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook. As this blog currently has over 350 free subscribers, I feel that some kind of explanation is in order.
1. You are doing a fantastic job, even if it's not reaching as many people as you'd like (you're in a similar situation to a vicar re the size of his congregation, right?). I only discovered your blog about six months ago and value it very highly.
2. One post a week is plenty, from where I'm standing. I try to read way too much on Substack so I'm very grateful when writers I don't want to miss don't post more than that!
3. There's also the principle of morphic resonance and the energy from which you are blogging - what you are doing is likely to be reaching more people out there than you realise even if they aren't reading your words...
4. Bristol needs you.
5. And yet I can totally understand where you are coming from. You need to put your own oxygen mask on before you can help others... ALSO it will always be exhausting when you come from a place of trying to change the world and make things better. If you can say what you have to say and let go of any expectations around what effect your words will have, they will paradoxically probably have more effect. So ignore 4. :-) and allow what enfolds from within you to do just that - enfold and be what it needs to be.
I’m just here to say that I hope you will do what feels right to you. I have tremendously enjoyed and been buoyed up by your writing. If you continue so will I but if you don’t I will understand. I am sure I’m not the only one you have made a positive difference to. Thank you for everything and follow your beautiful heart.
I fully understand your position and where you are coming from. My wife and I have been writing (books, magazine articles, journal articles and more) for almost 12 years now. Mostly about our Whole Food Plant Based Lifestylediet and conservative social approaches. We get critiqued for both and make almost no money on much of anything. We too often just want to 'give up' and relax and enjoy our 'retirement' at 77. BUT, out counseling and nutritional approach has allowed me to survive my aggressive prostate cancer (2010) and Nancy's arterial disease/blockages and if we help JUST ONE other person it will be worth it.
I maintain over 30 different web sites that focus on Health, Wellness & Longevity and a few others on other subjects. We continue to write; and have several projects on the burner for 2024. While we don't expect to make a fortune, we continue to hope for just a bit to cover our expenses. Luckily, we have pretty much mastered the Amazon Self-Publishing domain so can continue to put more out there for everyone; at least we offer it.
So, for that one person we may help (hopefully more) we will continue as I hope you do as well. Hang in there! There may be many more of 'US' out there that will value your situation and appreciate the struggle you are going through.
Completely understand and would like to say a couple of things. After decades of on-off activism I'm often still surprised by the level of apathy and self-defeating behaviour from others, especially those who profess to be most on-side and concerned about what's going on. There are so many traps to fall into, and those stemming from other activists are potentially the most draining.
So protecting yourself and stewarding your own resources is essential. Personally, I don't think giving up and watching the from the sidelines is a solution if you have a calling - you'll likely just end up feeling more frustrated. But/and working out what you can do, and what feels rewarding is key, integral to the task. Cutting down on posts is a good start - part of the wider problem is that people just have too much information coming into their inboxes. Less is more. I only do a monthly post, for this and financial reasons, myself. Limiting the use of social media is also a necessity.
I am holding a printed copy of the directory that you put together of organisations in Bristol now. My own move to Bristol is on hold, partly because of the cost-of-lockdown crisis and partly because Bristol councillors' enthusiasm for restrictions makes me wonder whether it would be a wise move. (Different if you're already settled there). But I think that sort of grassroots activity and face to face networks are exactly the way to go, even if you feel the grassroots project is too ambitious. Lots of people are thinking along the same lines, even if the resulting actions are rather disparate and chaotic. Maybe this is just how it is with humans at this stage in our development - we're just not very clear about what we're doing.
The best thing to do with any blog(s) that you don't intend updating any more is leave it/them available for people to read maybe, making it known that there will be no further updates, or just archive, that way you still have what you have written readily accessible to re-use and maybe update.
As for WordPress, I've stopped updating my current blog but it is still there should anyone chance upon it (as is my old anti-lockdown blog). I had a shadowban on WordPress where my posts didn't appear in the Reader function when searching on a relevant tag. I found out that this was for using the word scamdemic in a few blog posts. Although the shadowban was removed, the blog no longer had the same amount of traffic as before, so it is pointless continuing to update it.
It is as well to take a break every so often to catch up on researching stuff for new articles, getting out of reactive mode in the process. For the time being I'm trying to do that, republishing old WordPress stuff on here for a prospective new audience. And I've given up on X/Twitter, as I can't arsed with it any more, so I've just locked the account.
A bit late to comment as I have my own burnouts latley, but you are under no obligation to deliver anyone a cv, or "explain yourself", although the way you still did puts you as a very decent fellow in my book, and this sort of "responsible decency" embodies everything I value with anarchist principles, remember the cliche "you can't help anybody else before helping yourself" and that the battle does not solely rest on your shoulders, motivation ebbs and flows as waves, and I do know what it feels like to have ones passion turned against you so you feel like a fool, more than you know. I hope you find spring to be rejuvinating Dave, and I want you to know I do value your work as something unique,even if I hate substack and am terrible at reading it.
1. You are doing a fantastic job, even if it's not reaching as many people as you'd like (you're in a similar situation to a vicar re the size of his congregation, right?). I only discovered your blog about six months ago and value it very highly.
2. One post a week is plenty, from where I'm standing. I try to read way too much on Substack so I'm very grateful when writers I don't want to miss don't post more than that!
3. There's also the principle of morphic resonance and the energy from which you are blogging - what you are doing is likely to be reaching more people out there than you realise even if they aren't reading your words...
4. Bristol needs you.
5. And yet I can totally understand where you are coming from. You need to put your own oxygen mask on before you can help others... ALSO it will always be exhausting when you come from a place of trying to change the world and make things better. If you can say what you have to say and let go of any expectations around what effect your words will have, they will paradoxically probably have more effect. So ignore 4. :-) and allow what enfolds from within you to do just that - enfold and be what it needs to be.
xxx
I’m just here to say that I hope you will do what feels right to you. I have tremendously enjoyed and been buoyed up by your writing. If you continue so will I but if you don’t I will understand. I am sure I’m not the only one you have made a positive difference to. Thank you for everything and follow your beautiful heart.
I fully understand your position and where you are coming from. My wife and I have been writing (books, magazine articles, journal articles and more) for almost 12 years now. Mostly about our Whole Food Plant Based Lifestylediet and conservative social approaches. We get critiqued for both and make almost no money on much of anything. We too often just want to 'give up' and relax and enjoy our 'retirement' at 77. BUT, out counseling and nutritional approach has allowed me to survive my aggressive prostate cancer (2010) and Nancy's arterial disease/blockages and if we help JUST ONE other person it will be worth it.
I maintain over 30 different web sites that focus on Health, Wellness & Longevity and a few others on other subjects. We continue to write; and have several projects on the burner for 2024. While we don't expect to make a fortune, we continue to hope for just a bit to cover our expenses. Luckily, we have pretty much mastered the Amazon Self-Publishing domain so can continue to put more out there for everyone; at least we offer it.
So, for that one person we may help (hopefully more) we will continue as I hope you do as well. Hang in there! There may be many more of 'US' out there that will value your situation and appreciate the struggle you are going through.
Hang in there!
I would definitely delete Facebook.
Completely understand and would like to say a couple of things. After decades of on-off activism I'm often still surprised by the level of apathy and self-defeating behaviour from others, especially those who profess to be most on-side and concerned about what's going on. There are so many traps to fall into, and those stemming from other activists are potentially the most draining.
So protecting yourself and stewarding your own resources is essential. Personally, I don't think giving up and watching the from the sidelines is a solution if you have a calling - you'll likely just end up feeling more frustrated. But/and working out what you can do, and what feels rewarding is key, integral to the task. Cutting down on posts is a good start - part of the wider problem is that people just have too much information coming into their inboxes. Less is more. I only do a monthly post, for this and financial reasons, myself. Limiting the use of social media is also a necessity.
I am holding a printed copy of the directory that you put together of organisations in Bristol now. My own move to Bristol is on hold, partly because of the cost-of-lockdown crisis and partly because Bristol councillors' enthusiasm for restrictions makes me wonder whether it would be a wise move. (Different if you're already settled there). But I think that sort of grassroots activity and face to face networks are exactly the way to go, even if you feel the grassroots project is too ambitious. Lots of people are thinking along the same lines, even if the resulting actions are rather disparate and chaotic. Maybe this is just how it is with humans at this stage in our development - we're just not very clear about what we're doing.
The best thing to do with any blog(s) that you don't intend updating any more is leave it/them available for people to read maybe, making it known that there will be no further updates, or just archive, that way you still have what you have written readily accessible to re-use and maybe update.
As for WordPress, I've stopped updating my current blog but it is still there should anyone chance upon it (as is my old anti-lockdown blog). I had a shadowban on WordPress where my posts didn't appear in the Reader function when searching on a relevant tag. I found out that this was for using the word scamdemic in a few blog posts. Although the shadowban was removed, the blog no longer had the same amount of traffic as before, so it is pointless continuing to update it.
It is as well to take a break every so often to catch up on researching stuff for new articles, getting out of reactive mode in the process. For the time being I'm trying to do that, republishing old WordPress stuff on here for a prospective new audience. And I've given up on X/Twitter, as I can't arsed with it any more, so I've just locked the account.
A bit late to comment as I have my own burnouts latley, but you are under no obligation to deliver anyone a cv, or "explain yourself", although the way you still did puts you as a very decent fellow in my book, and this sort of "responsible decency" embodies everything I value with anarchist principles, remember the cliche "you can't help anybody else before helping yourself" and that the battle does not solely rest on your shoulders, motivation ebbs and flows as waves, and I do know what it feels like to have ones passion turned against you so you feel like a fool, more than you know. I hope you find spring to be rejuvinating Dave, and I want you to know I do value your work as something unique,even if I hate substack and am terrible at reading it.
Thank you for being in the front line, if you only help one person that one person can help another who could help many.