Keeping At It

For all the years that I've spent philosophizing writing crappy pieces here, it comes as a bit of a surprise that I've churned out 135 entries only. In my mind - and indeed, I have the drafts to prove it - I think there must have been at least a few hundred ideas which I have penned down in glorious words. Looks like the truth is, most of those ideas get buried in a shallow grave the moment they leave my fingertips. And to think that academic writing will someday be a staple of my diet, hah!

Actually, what little I have learned from self-help gurus and productivity maniacs on Youtube is this - persevere in what you do, despite not necessarily seeing the fruits of it now. Throw yourself into the unknown. Shout into the void. Brush your teeth before you go to bed. That last one is actually a life lesson hamered into my head by my parents, but the advice holds. The point I am trying to make here is that any good habit deserves to be pursued, even if it goes unnoticed or unappreciated. And in today's modern world of instant gratification, it is so easy for one's efforts to go under the radar. In my case, this applies to my writing in this blog.

Another example I can think of is my cousin. In the beginning, I couldn't fathom why he kept making different Instagram accounts with different themes and directions. One of them was just random photos with cryptic captions. Another revolved around architecture. Of course, there was his personal account, detailing bits and bobs of his every day life. At first, I didn't really pay much attention as I was too busy scrolling through the thousand photos of food, 4-panel cartoons and enviable gym body figures. But then one day, he came up with the idea of producing short, one-minute horror stories under (yet) another account. And this was the content which actuallly caught my attention. 

So I have been following his progress with great curiosity and interest, and I have noticed that other people have been noticing his work as well. He hasn't reached the 10s of thousand views like other, more established content creators do, but as far as audiences go, his isn't too shabby of a number. They're certainly a bigger figure than my own Instagram feed, but it's not a competition here.

I've never asked him in detail what his goals are with this pet project of his, neither do I think it's important. What is important however, is that he is making himself seen & heard in the vast space that is the Internet, and that is a commendable achievement. Furthermore, he did it without selling himself short or resorting to cheap gimmicks, which can't be said for more than half of our local 'Instafamous' or 'Youtubers'. 

So yeah, persevere. If you have something to say, keep shouting it out loud even if nobody listens, because you never know when they eventually will.