The world we live in is no longer the world our parents grew up in. These days, personal information has been monetized by corporations for myriad reasons, showing the premium than private data has for certain sects of society, particularly the criminal underworld.
In a perfectly moral world, such considerations wouldn’t even taken place, but we live not in a ‘perfect’ world, we live in a world where information isn’t only used against individuals to make money off of them, but sometimes, criminal elements of society will use that information to control individuals into doing whatever questionable acts they deem fit.
Moral of the story, be careful who you share your information with, particularly personal information like your full name, address, work place, personal pictures, and anything else, and also be careful where you share that information, because at times that’s just as important as the information shared, if not more so. All of this might be obvious, but given that much of what’s obvious (i.e. people “should” eat healthy) can often be glossed over easily, I share this as a reminder to hopefully urge individuals to be more mindful of such considerations.
This video meanders around some general considerations in how sometimes the scope of a book grows beyond what you initial thought it might. I touch upon lightly the book that I’ve tentatively called “The Masquerade,” and how that book has grown beyond the scope that I initially envisioned for it. Even so, I will not cap the growth of the book just because I originally envisioned one story and its grown with time. I will remain fluid in how I proceed, but the point is that with most of the books I published this year, the scope grew either slightly, or extensively, and its something that should be considered by neophyte writers since many times you believe a book will take you X amount of time to finish, when it actually could be much longer than that.
As far as writing is concerned, I have stayed focused on that for the most part. Even so, I find myself failing with the blog because even though I have been writing regularly, I have not been uploading content. Some of this is due to lack of mindfulness, but I have been making poor choices as far as the Blog is concerned, given that it doesn’t take too much time to upload content that’s already been created. Either way, I’m disappointed in myself, and plan on changing that immediately.
Writing has been ongoing, and I’m actually writing in myriad directions, and its rather fulfilling for the most part. I have managed to remain inspired and focused, while also trying some new things in some areas, but overall, making sure that I have written has gone off without a hitch.
Now, I made two decisions for myself within the last few days that have lead me to this very point. These days, unlike the past, I am not reticent about doing what is best for me, which is why I’m writing this blog in the first place.
The first decision dealt with me trying to clear up something for myself, by being direct with myself about a certain matter, and that didn’t go so well. The whole point is that, in the end, although I continually try to do what’s best for me, it doesn’t always work out. But at least I know that regardless of what happens tomorrow, I tried, and that’s all that matters.
Immediately thereafter, I decided to make the second decision given that it was glaringly obvious that what was best for me was not to be on Instagram at the time. And I shut down all my main IG accounts except one, and I even plan on steering away from that one unless I have a significant reason not to.
Irrespective of that, the whole point is that my choices have been incredibly Love based – doing what’s best for me because I care for myself – rather than when I haven’t done what’s best for myself, like overlooking my health, which is a glaring mistake. On the other side of the spectrum, at times I don’t end up doing what’s ‘best’ for me due to fear-based considerations.
What’s the difference? In the former, I am chasing you dreams, because that’s what’s arguably best for me. The latter, would be me staying in my comfort zone, even though some would argue that that’s what’s best for them. And I hold no judgment as to who makes what choice for themselves, as I’m a huge proponent of Freedom, particularly Freedom of choice.
Every single one of us has a choice to make every single day. In fact, we have hundreds if not thousands of choices we make daily, except, most of them come automatic through the day. But still, we make choices, and it’s in the most important choices that we each make in our lives that we see the most massive shifts. And given that I plan continuing to torpedo right through my fears, I can only do what’s best for me because not doing what’s for me would not only selling myself short, but not living my life to the fullest.
One thing’s certain, at the end of my life, I don’t want to have any major regrets, which is another reason why I don’t shy away from trying to do what’s best for me, because in the past I would not try something and know how disappointed I felt in myself if I didn’t try something, like applying for a certain job for instance.
Some of you may be asking, or have asked, “Well if writing is so important to you, why don’t you stay on Instagram at a much more limited time?” That’s an excellent question, and one a few people have raised on Facebook given they couldn’t contact me through IG. The reason for that, as I have covered in past videos, is that I’ve gotten into the bad habit (again) of spending a large amount of time, much more than I should be, on Instagram in this instance, but in the past it was on Social Media in general. And while that might work for other people, as I have quite a few friends, some of them best friends, that are literally on Instagram all day long, that just won’t work for me.
That doesn’t mean I won’t use the platform again, it’s just that given how busy I am this time of year in the businesses, and given how much I want to continue writing, I can’t afford to be wasting one or two dozen hours on social media that aren’t going to anything productive or improving my life. You might be asking, so what exactly do I deem productive? Some of this is writing, interacting with people, supporting others, getting to know people in depth, etc. But a lot of the time I spent was following trails of Memes, or spending lots of time looking at travel locations, or any type of pictures that could serve as a prompt or inspiration with writing for me.
Regardless, I have to draw the line somewhere. I can’t afford to be losing huge slots of time by doing that. And I don’t regret any of the meaningful things I was doing on IG, like getting to know people, or supporting their work, sharing poems, etc. That I could never regret, particularly getting to know people, because unlike the other things, you don’t always have an opportunity to interact with someone one on one, so when that happens I cherish it incredibly because (1) it doesn’t happen often enough I believe, and (2) it might not happen soon or ever again, which is why I always try and remain in the moment when I’m trying to talk to people, find out what they enjoy, and all that jazz.
The whole point is that, I got into the exact bad habit that made me waste over 1000 hours of my life on social media this year, and if I really hope to do what’s best for myself, there is just no way on Earth I could ever do what’s best for me while having Social Media, or specifically in my case, Instagram, siphon so much time from me, particularly at a time of year when time is so precious and at a premium.
With all that in mind, I shall continue to do what’s best for me, and hopefully I can continue to achieve everything I can achieve as an individual, while always remaining open to the fluidity of life and the possibilities that may arise. And although I certainly didn’t plan on detaching myself this much from social media, I know myself and I know if I didn’t do it my health would pay the price with increased stress and so on, as has happened in the past.
Do I plan on using IG again? Sure. But for now, using it like I was using it before just won’t work. I do want to use it in a limited way to post poetry, but time (and my health) will tell.
I hope you are all doing fantastic, and always remember, dreams don’t happen over tonight. You have to be proactive in the steps you take towards them. But eventually, with enough focus, poise and drive, if you want it bad enough, I do believe it can and will happen more often than not. But you can never give up on yourself, or even the dreams of other, no matter what.
Sauntering salaciously through the ethereal world, she dives courageously towards her deepest darkest dreams in spellbinding rumination of the unknown pondering the luscious landscape of the mind, simultaneously whispering insomniac temptations tantalizingly towards me casting a web of intellectual deviltry that dominates my dreams delectably to such a resoundingly invigorating extent that it makes my entire life an endless living dream.
Noctis Blackburn is an author, bibliophile, writer,
poet, dreamer, star gazer, autodidact, logician, researcher, lover of
life, Carmel Macchiatto addict, and more.
Just recently, I received my proof copy for the latest book I am soon to release, though admittedly under my Zy Marquiez pen name, it being Amor Vincit Omnia – Love Conquers All.
The above picture shows what the softcover book looks like. A quick note on that though, that ‘smudgy’ looking portion on the left of the white heart is just a glare. That said, the pinkish hearts that interlock do however look exactly as you see them. Just wanted to make sure people knew how it looked.
Now, the tentative plan is for me to start proof reading this copy today, and hopefully have the proof reading and additional Beta Feedback done so I can order another proof copy tomorrow, which should arrive mid next week. Given how important this book is to me, I simply don’t want to make this book available to public access without having had another go at the ‘final’ proof copy.
If all goes as planned, then the book should be available to the public by late next week.
You all have a great day.
– Noctis Blackburn a.k.a. Zy Marquiez
______________________________ About Me:
Noctis Blackburn is an author, bibliophile, writer,
poet, dreamer, star gazer, autodidact, logician, researcher, lover of
life, Carmel Macchiatto addict, and more.
Gazing fondly at the stars we dance with the shadows, wrapped in a sphere of wonder while we drink in the intoxicating and rejuvenating perfection of the celestial starlight.
Noctis Blackburn is an author, bibliophile, writer,
poet, dreamer, star gazer, autodidact, logician, researcher, lover of
life, Carmel Macchiatto addict, and more.
