What is a BLOG?

January 17, 2021 by Dylan

“A life well lived requires activities that serve no other purpose than the satisfaction that the activity itself generates.”
Cal Newport (Digital Minimalism)

I won’t pretend to understand what a blog is. My use of this space may be far from what a blog should be and I am okay with that.

With that said, I want to use this blog to replace the current social media experience with the experience I started using social media for. When I started using social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram I told myself I used them to stay in touch with family and friends that I did not see often. I wanted to be in the know when things were going on as well as let people know when things were changing with me. While that may have been okay in years past, social media has changed, a lot. I find myself getting trapped. While I may be slightly more connected to a few people than I would be without social media, here is my issue.

I am less connected with myself, my wife, and my son because of social media. I have fallen into the trap and can see the effect it has had on me. My goal with this blog is to be present with those that I am in contact with and those who I share my life with. While I will miss seeing pictures of my friends children that I have never even met and my cousin’s hiking trips that I did not experience, I hope that I will be more present with the interactions and adventures that I am a part.

How can this blog help with that? I will be deleting other social media outlets and posting here instead. Once a week I will make a post. What will that post be about, I don’t really know. I simply want to replace my current social media with something that doesn’t seem so evil and deceiving.

I suspect this will be a place for stories about my family, adventures, CrossFit gym ownership, dogs, and what I am learning about. Most importantly I pray this will be a way to stay present with my wife, son, future daughter, friends, and others rather than getting trapped in the social media whirlwind that many of us are been tricked into these days.

My wife (Connor), my son (Owen), and I are expecting to meet baby Nora soon. There may be a new weeks post before we meet her but… who knows. She is scheduled to come into this world on the 25th of January and I imagine that many of these first blog posts will spend a lot of time talking about our families experiences around Nora, our first daughter and baby sister.

But for now, I want to share a bike ride I took this morning. It was absolutely beautiful! I started in the dark, as I typically do. While it was cold , I must have been better prepared because I felt pretty comfortable! I have been enjoying gravel rides out around Parson’s Mountain so I went back there this morning. I was able to catch the sunrise at the peak near the fire tower (no, I don’t climb the tower because I am a rule follower..) the climb to the peak on my “ghetto” gravel bike was brutal but it was absolutely worth it. After a quick break to enjoy the sight, I took a new route and explored the forest via gravel roads. What a beautiful road I ended up on. I was able to stop and enjoy the silence that resonates in this place. I don’t know what kind of tree is just losing its leaves in January but it really made this part of the ride special.

Thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you will join me on this journey around social media freedom. Some resources that got me thinking about making a change are:

Digital Minimalism, a book by Cal Newport

The Social Dilemma, a Netflix documentary

The Joy Of Missing Out, a book by Christina Crook

Have a great week!

-Dylan