Hi friends,

Hope you are living it up, even if you are blowing through your savings.

This week has brought in some changes. My sister and co left back to their city after a three month stay with my parents. (Why haven’t I left yet you ask? To that I say “good question” and I also say “stfu”.) I am missing my nephew already—who I scratched, pulled around and bit at least 23 times every day, throughout his stay here. (You’re welcome m.) I’m sure he has forgotten all about me and is busy chewing my sister’s brains on their drive back. (That’s how we say ‘talk one’s head off’ around here. He might be omnivorous though.) It was fun.

I’ve no idea where I am going with this newsletter, giving all these personal updates to the world. Why would anyone care? Lol. Hey, it’s at the front of my head OK? Moving on.

I’ve been slacking off on my projects—pfft!

My daily blog, my weekly screenwriting and my vlog (which hasn’t seen the light of the day since the grand announcement two weeks ago). All of them.

This newsletter is one piece of ‘content’ I have kept at consistently from the start; I am told everything that is put online is filed under ‘content’ now. I am also given to understand that as soon as you use the word ‘content’, you are supposed to instantly precede or succeed it with another word—'consistency’.

‘Consistency is key’ when it comes to ‘content’ apparently. I have no idea if it is. Everyone says so online. Who knew age-old truths would make their way into new-age technology. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

These random people on the internet—who could be real people or hired actors stuck at this acting gig for years—say that you have to churn out content and keep at it consistently, if you want things to take off. (Shhh, I do.) I must add the caveat—'take off’ can mean different things to different people. Some consider reaching a high round-figure of readers/viewers/listeners—who are willing to part with a limb to get even so much as a glimpse of the bloggers/youtubers/podcasters—as the starting point. Others think it is beneath themselves to look at numbers when they consider every click of their mouse, tap on their keyboard and exhaled breath—as art. I think I want to be somewhere in the middle. Neither crunch numbers all day while checking ‘success indicators’ nor gaze into the distance while scratching my forehead and call it performance art. Middle is good.

I know this journey to the middle even, is long and arduous: years of putting content online consistently. Besides, consistency is important for a host of other reasons.

But I also watched some videos about ‘burnout’. I could already relate—even if a teeny bit—to some of the things they warned of. I realised ‘burnout’ is a real possibility if I don’t learn to enjoy most if not all aspects of these projects.

Sometimes it’s just difficult to keep going, without pausing, without reflecting, to keep getting vulnerable in order to put myself out there. A part of me sees the the clock and the calendar and feels impatient; dammit it’s been five months, why hasn’t this gotten easier?

I need to keep asking and answering for myself—what is it that I’m trying to accomplish by doing these projects?

Now that the word ‘burnout’ has descended into my conscious vocabulary, I’m afraid my brain will reach out to use it, if I wait too long to write the next article or struggle to start the vlog.

Also, with covid’s second wave receding, my travel plans are slowly coming to the fore, which is great news by itself. With all those changes, it becomes difficult to have a clear focus in order to execute and be consistent every single day.

But I’ll admit, this is a good problem to have.

Have a bestest week,

Sumeru

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I’m changing things up a bit this week. I added interesting stuff throughout the week. So here’s a laundry list:-

I read ‘Show your work’. It was OK I thought. Just a bunch of quotes and generic advice. Certainly one of the better self-help books with ‘actionable insights’. (Sorry, LinkedIn briefly entered my body.)

It’s a must read if you don’t have a personal website but are magically seeking opportunities online.

This week, I started reading Ernest Hemingway’s first novel. Why? Because the next time I’m at a party where everyone seems to have their shit together, I want to speak out of turn in any random conversation and say “Oh you must read Hemingway’s early work then!”

The book is called The Sun also rises.

(No, I haven’t “finished that book” I started four months ago. And if you want to get smart with me, you do that on your own newsletter, got it?!)

I think real peace comes only after you come face to face with the truth. Being avoidant is not the same as being peaceful. Thank you for attending my TED talk.