Writing my tweets

I tweeted about this yesterday, but I figured since in my string of tweets I talked about putting my energy into this site, I should probably write about it here.

A few weeks ago I decided to back off Twitter. But I noticed quickly I was having an issue because I would have thoughts, would want to tweet them, and they wouldn’t go away. So I grabbed a Field Notes that was just waiting to be used and wrote on the first page “Tweets not tweeted.”

I began writing most of tweets by hand. I carried that Field Notes with me everywhere I went and I filled it, then went on to the next one. I’m now on my third notebook. It worked. All those thoughts got written down, many with more ideas attached and without the need to worry about a 140 character limit.

Some of you reading this may think, “that sounds a lot like journaling.” And you’d be right, it pretty much is. But something about thinking of them as short little missives made it easier for me; it made it doable. I wasn’t blocked by thinking I needed to sit down and write pages of thoughts, I could write just a line or two.

This year has been difficult for many, the world news is pretty depressing, the US election is awful (thankfully it’s almost over), and personally I’ve been going through a bit of a think about what I want in life and how I want to live my life. Jotting down quick thoughts and ideas in a space where no one else sees them, where no one judges them, and where I can be completely open and honest, has been transforming.

And it’s removed me from the firehose of information on Twitter that I don’t always know how to handle. I’m backing way off of social media. You’ll find me online right here; linking to things I like, writing occasionally, reviewing things I’ve read, and posting images of things I’ve drawn or seen.