The last post from the old blog
an archive of all my posts before December 2022
Hello! This is a repost of the final article I wrote after nearly two and a half years of blogging at “The Next Phase is Now”. I’ve since closed down that site. For more details on that decision, check out our Two Sides of FI episode on the topic. After some debate, I decided against importing all those old posts to this substack, and rather am only sharing this one, which contains links to the archived posts. That seemed like a better fresh start to me, and perhaps a sensible one given that I don’t yet know what I’m going to do with this newsletter! If you’d like to be informed of any future articles or about any future projects, please click the green “Subscribe” button at the upper right on this page or this link. -Jason
Hi all,
I guess it's been a while - sorry I've been so quiet of late. If you've continued to follow me on YouTube you'll know I've not been silent. But I've admittedly been increasingly less interested in writing here, and so I haven't. I wouldn't say I've fully thought through the 'why' of that, but the origin is seemingly from a mix of things, including but perhaps not limited to:
I'm getting my thoughts out already (and potentially better) via YouTube / podcasting
My priorities lie elsewhere and this feels like a chore; something that weighs on my mind
This WordPress blogging platform is higher effort / cost than is worth it
The blog has run its course and it's time for something new if I still want to write
My annual website hosting renewal is nearly upon me. Once again, I'm faced with the decision to pay exorbitant renewal fees or make yet another move to a new host with a low teaser rate like I did this time last year. The former is out of the question, and the latter seems like pointless busywork. In addition, I've tired of WordPress. It's not great and takes more maintenance than is interesting to me. The whole process of writing, posting, and handling associated social media is kind of a lot for where I'm at in life, and I've found I'm not enjoying it nor willing to prioritize it.
Solutions? Assuming I still do want to write, I could move to a much lighter hosting solution. I could take a tip from Derek Sivers and go to a text-only approach (this still involves hosting of course). I used to embrace linking out internally and externally (good for SEO, right?), and going back and making all those links in articles. Maybe I was bored during lockdown and it was more entertaining then? Now it seems tedious. It's almost as bad as finding the "featured images" that I place at the top of each post, or coming up with titles, which are my least favorite tasks.
I feel like this is post is coming across as complaining, and as one in a privileged position that I've acknowledged all along the way, that always feels wrong - and isn't my intention. Rather, I'm trying to be completely honest about my feelings for the blog at present, why I haven't been writing, and how I've come to this decision:
I'm going to shut down this blog.
For those who might still like to have access to my nearly 2.5 years of earlier posts - and thank you for that! - I've made an archive available. I've produced two versions: all 250 pages of posts with HTML links and without them. Why? Once site hosting shuts down, all the internal links (i.e. to other blog posts of mine) will break. All of the external links (i.e. to other articles, resources, etc) will still work. People who are OK with this mix of functional and broken links should use the first archive link. If you'd rather have a clean copy without the distraction of links that may or not work, use the second. It's possible that I will reinstate the blog somewhere else and repair things so that all the links will work again. But at present I have no plans for this.
Maybe I'll start a Substack newsletter? [note: clearly I’ve done that here but will I keep it up? Who knows…] Perhaps I'll write on a lighter weight platform that I don't fully control? I'm not really sure. If you have opinions on the topic, let me know. The idea of writing remains attractive. I still have book ideas in my head too, though none of those have sufficiently grabbed my attention such that I've pursued them. We shall see. I'm not making promises! For now, if you do want to keep up with my journey, follow me at Two Sides of FI on YouTube or via your favorite podcast client.
Lastly, thank you. I'm sincerely appreciative for anyone who has taken the time to read any of what I've written to date, particularly for those who've been with me for a long time, or who took the time to share their own thoughts with me - very few do if I'm being honest. I have greatly appreciated your support. Particularly in the first 6-12 months after leaving my job, this blog was a vital outlet for me in so many ways. I'm thankful for anyone who has been here with me on that journey. I remain hopeful that things I've written have been useful to others in their own march through life, irrespective of how similar or not our paths are.
I wish each of you the very best in all things! Please do keep in touch. If I do commence writing elsewhere, I'll be sure to announce it to existing blog subscribers who've shared their email with me. I'm also certain that I'll talk with Eric about it on Two Sides of FI, so subscribing to our YouTube channel is the best way to ensure you'll be informed.
Mahalo! 🙏
-Jason
image source: by David Mullins on Unsplash