That seems like a good start, but let's just stop right there with any pretence that this will be some short, sharp, zingy, word-smithy, whatever. If we're going to really get to properly know me, let's take a moment and just get real with it.
Here's how we're going to do "this", if "this" is supposed to be me giving some kinda bio about myself for the people who probably expect as much, having clicked on an "About Me" link on a website with my name on it. Which - fair enough.
Read on, as I'm sure you'll agree with me (by the end, maybe, probably) that 'stream-of-consciousness' style is the only way to do this properly.
Actually, one sec, before we do:
<aside> ⚠️ Let me stop for a minute and appreciate what you might be thinking right now.
You're likely a little aghast here 😱- scrolling this little way down and seeing the veritable wall of text unfurling below. And yeah, well, look - again, fair enough. You got me. I don't blame you for expecting something more concise; let that be the first thing you learn about me and my writing style - it's not concise. So let's start there:
Some basic writing tenets of mine, off the top-of-my-head:
More often than not, that usually means "not concise". However, it typically does mean easy to write, easy to read, and some good fun. So that's the deal - thanks! ✌️
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And with that, I already feel like we're off to a pretty good start in terms of "getting to know me".
So I thought for a long time about what to write here, and wrote and re-wrote some short, snappy paragraphs of what I thought might sufficiently represent me. Something succinct, all-encompassing, or at least touching on the dot-points of my life and interests. Turns out - not so easy! And more importantly, not very much fun. Writing and re-writing and chopping and changing and making endless tweaks to make it concise, professional but not boring, impressive but not too try-hard... 😩
Even coming up with something of a "tagline" for myself online - the whole:
"Thinking, learning, doing"
was something I spent more time mulling over than I either care to admit or remember. I also appreciate the frankly delicious irony that I spent so much time thinking and thinking about a short, snappy, and concise tagline for myself, in order to avoid spending time thinking about what to write for a bio that would be short, snappy, and concise. And, in the end, here we are anyway - me writing a bio. At least this is hardly, short, snappy, and concise. So, maybe we'll have to just call it a wash. 🤪
I digress (classic me - you'll see). But yes, let’s get into it - seriously👇
The aforementioned tagline is actually a good place for us to really start to drill down a little bit: Thinking, learning, doing. If it were absolutely necessary to reduce myself to even just three words, those might be it. Some of the biggest parts of my personal life at the moment include: meditation, cultivating balance in my life, personal development, growth, learning, and putting myself out there (making things, pursuing creative outlets, etc). Likely a lot of my website and blog ultimately centres around these things, too.
In similar measures, I like many of the things that most people probably like too: books, games of all kinds, time spent with family and friends, long walks to nowhere in particular, podcasts, audiobooks, exercise, naps, the list goes on: TV, movies, good journalism, Wikipedia and YouTube rabbit holes - you get the idea. So don't get the impression that I'm some productivity or side-hustle machine - I find that exhausting full-time (having tried that) and I'm more actively striving for something more balanced - a full life of both.
One of the main reasons I actually wanted to start a blog, and this website, was to write more about meditation: my own experiences, what I've learned of it, what I would recommend, a journal of my progress therein, etc. I have a lot to say on this topic along the vein of "I wish I had known that" or “why aren’t people talking about or doing this more” or "I wish someone had told me this" - all great impetus for a blog, and for some structured thought.
On that topic (starting a website), there's much more to be said, and in fact I've written a whole post about it, which you can check out too. 👇
<aside> 📖 Related post: Why I started a website
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A lot of what we've covered so far - above - is largely the kind of subject matter this website is built around. So, with that in mind, let's drill a little deeper and find some of the subtler things in the name of getting to know me.