ednite

I burned out after building a large B2B project that got canceled two weeks before launch.

A year later, I found myself learning Sumerian for no reason at all.

Just sharing my experience and curious if anyone else has found meaning by doing something seemingly useless.

Very insightful. I can relate. Thanks for sharing!

Wow! Amazing collection,a visual history of Neuromancer. Thanks for sharing this!

I'm sharing a piece inspired by a fellow HN member who asked what to do when dealing with a bad manager. IMHO, and from someone who's lived this, unless you're a founding member, it's best to start quietly looking for another job. No matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, a toxic environment will always hold you back from your full potential. Been there, done that, and never looked back.

TL;DR: A tiny spider kept rebuilding its web on my car mirror, only for the wind to destroy it every day. Watching it became a metaphor for staying in toxic environments and calling it "resilience."

We often mistake endurance for progress. Like the spider, we keep rebuilding in places(workplaces, relationships, or online spaces) that are tearing us down or, at very least, holding us back, believing endurance equals strength. True resilience is knowing when to stop rebuilding and move somewhere healthier.

I do tend to write more fluff than substance, working on it. Thanks for the comment.

I think that part may have been misunderstood. My wife wasn’t upset about me being argumentative, her point was that it bothered her I was convinced by the AI, rather than by her, and what stuck with me is how quickly I was convinced by AI and stopped dead in my tracks. That is why I wrote the piece.

Hey ModernMech, being transparent here and appreciate your take on this. I always start from a blank page and go through several drafts. I do run my raw format through AI to fix flaws and polish grammar, but the ideas, narrative, and structure are mine. If the tool changes the narrative, I don't use it. Simple as that.

For me, AI is sitll a time-saver, like other grammar tools, so I can focus on the message.

I had hoped people would focus more on the message than the craft and tools, but I understand now. Lesson learned, and I’ll keep working on it.

I'm listening to my audience and improving my writing as I chronicle my life experiences.

I don’t use AI to push sales. In fact, I shut down AdSense within minutes of approval because monetizing isn’t my goal right now. Yes, i use affiliate links to books I’ve personally found useful (and love quoting them) and hope others will too, but I’ve been debating removing those as well, the same way I did with ads, if it hurts the reader’s experience. I'm thinking the affiliates don't readers, but I may be wrong.

I’m new to this space and still learning how to be authentic online. This community is actually the only place I share my writing, and as you can see i'm stumbling a lot, but I’m listening, learning, and I genuinely appreciate everyone’s feedback, yours included.

Didn’t expect this one to get flagged, thank you everyone for the great feedback.Learning as a i go.

Well said, AI definitely amplifies agendas, and the lure of “bigger, better, more profitable” usually beats the status quo.

What if that’s not me? I guess I’ll need to practice my “F- this s#!” reps and work my way up.

Your comment is appreciated and heard. That’s the beauty of learning new things, you try, you stumble, and you learn from your mistakes. As I’ve shared before, my blog started out heavily relying on AI for editing and grammar to get my ideas into words.

I quickly realized that wasn’t the best approach and that I needed to respect my readers’ time. If you look at my newer articles, you’ll see they’re shifting, becoming more me.

I’m lightly revising my earlier posts, but honestly I won’t change them much. I think it’s valuable for readers to see the progression, stumbles and all. Thanks for your comment, it might even become the subject of my next article.