Absence.

I'm back on the 'Sub & where I have been (personal update)

Sometimes it sucks to be right. Not often, though, I love being right. (Hence why I’m so glad I mostly am.. Just ask my fiancé!)

But in this instance.. I hate that I was right.

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When I started writing my weekly Substack, I said to myself, ‘I really can’t miss a single week. I know myself. If I miss just the one week.. I will have lost all accountability, and I will never write again’. A little dramatic, maybe.. If you ignore the fact that I was, indeed, correct.

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I published my first post on January 24 of this year. Since then, I’ve posted weekly – up until July 21. That is a total of 26 weeks, for those who are counting (me – it’s me. I’m counting. Although I’m not sure if I counted correctly, to be frank).

If you have, know, or been anywhere near anyone with raging ADHD, who is the absolute embodiment of ‘multipassionate’, and has an identity crisis every other hour.. You can imagine how insane that number of weeks is. It might have, actually, been one of the longest-lasting habits I have had.

Sure, there have been weeks where I played with faith. Publishing a short, random poem – or writing about a topic nothing to do with anything else I wrote about. I even ended up sharing some of my first short fictional story over here. Plus -yes- I have posted a lot of these ‘weekly’ posts just the Monday after.

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I’ve written through a lot of stages as well. Sometimes it’s crazy to see how much life can happen while always pursuing the same habits.

I started writing in Glendambo, South Australia. I was working in the middle of the outback (200km to the nearest grocery store), living at a little compound while working at the servo. My neighbours consisted of my fiancé, my dozen-or-so coworkers, and a thousand sheep. There, I realized I had to get serious about my writing, and I needed some form of accountability to do so. So I started my Substack, with no other goal than writing every week.

From there came the road trip through Australia’s red center.

Then Sri Lanka for a month, where we lived in a vibrant little surf town, writing between our jungle balcony, coworking spaces, and cafes with sea view.

After that, the move home after two+ years on the road. Not gonna lie, I kinda expected this one to kill the habit. But it somehow managed to stick around. Living between my dad’s and my in-laws’, I somehow kept writing for a month.

And then I missed a week. Funny, the only thing I remember is that I tried to downplay it. ‘Ah, after so long, I’m sure I’ll pick it right back up!’, and more naïve phrases like that. I don’t remember why I missed that week. I know there wasn’t a good reason to.

I had tempted fate, and it showed.

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Because now, here we are. September 9, as of writing.

That ‘one’ week skipped turned into 7. BUT – here’s the other side of the coin. The only reason you are reading this is because I’ve picked it up again!

I won’t take up too much space this week, as it really is just an update.

And you can expect weekly updates again. If I ever miss another week (please, gods, no!), prepare to ride at dawn and kick my door down. Because missing just one week is the start of an era of doom.

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In other updates, I’m currently living in Ireland! And I’m writing this out of a cozy mountain cabin. Next week’s post will be about some of my travels while absent from Substack.

After that.. who knows! My one promise to myself about this Substack, is that I am free to change the topic as much as I like. I don’t limit myself here. I don’t aim to grow, I don’t aim to sell anything. I just write.

If you’re still here, after my almost-two-month absence, thank you! Expect more of the all-over-the-place writing as before.

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I hope I can say; ‘till next week,

Melissa