---
up:
  - "[[ Newsletter (OE) (Example)]]"
created: 2022-07-19
tags:
  - output/newsletter
---

I was working long hours on another TV show. 

It wasn't Better Call Saul. It was a TV pilot that no one ever saw.

The Film and TV industry is brutal. When you start a new production, you say goodbye to your family and friends. 

Literally. You call them up and say, "I'm about to start a new show, so I'll be harder to reach."

It's better to let everyone know so they won't wonder why you disappeared.

I was feeling that feeling again. 

Uncentered. Ungrounded. Floaty. 

That's the same feeling that got me started down this path. 

It's a story you might know yourself...

--- 

First, you want to keep track of things. 

You find Evernote. You start "managing knowledge".

Managing knowledge helps you remember more stuff. It feels good. So you spend more time doing it. You try things. You get better. You feel progress. 

Then you connect the dots. Wait a minute! I have stuff I'm doing. And my ability at "managing knowledge" can help me do my stuff better! 

And that's enough for some people. They get more things done.

But there is more. 

Hidden.

Hard to describe. 

But it's there. 

It's a sense that you're building something special. 

Not because it helps you complete projects.

But because a part of you is in it.

It's not a lifeless brain, in a jar, on a desk.

It's an old friend...

---

After two months of 12 hour days on that TV pilot, my mind was fried. I was feeling totally disconnected from the rest of my life. Outside of work, I was not fun to be around (just ask my girlfriend).

Exercise helped. A little. 

But I needed something to truly ground my floating mind. I needed anchors and tethers and throughlines. 

I needed my old friend...

---

My old friend has been with me is some form since 

If I take care of my old friend, it will be around as long as anyone in my life—possibly with the exception of my family and my oldest friends from high school.

My old friend will be with me until the end.

My digital companion.

And then it will continue to outlive me. 

It will tell my story. The inner story. 

Likely no one will care. But maybe a nephew or niece will find some value in it. Maybe it helps them understand themselves just a little bit better...

---

So after two months of overload on that TV pilot, and coming home fried, I turned to my old friend.

In the short-term, my old friend calmed my scattered mind. 

I would spend 15 minutes after work to just...wander. To fiddle around. And that was enough.

That tiny walk with my digital thinking companion re-centered me.

I was able to be more present at home. Which makes me a lot more fun to be around (just ask my girlfriend).

Thanks old friend...

---

This part of the internet is obsessed with "projects" and "productivity".

They would scoff at my old friend.

That's because I tend to my old friend like a Japanese "garden master" tends to their beautiful landscape. 

That's not efficient, they say. Stop "wasting" time, they say.

They are the people who speed walk through a Japanese garden.

~~If they are not careful, they might also become the person who sees you as a number—an object for their gain.~~

I'm not. I explore and wander. 

And yet I still "get things done". How? 

Because not all those who wander are lost (Tolkien).

Your time tending to your rich inner garden will enrich the world that 

%% fix %%

My inner garden is my digital thinking companion.

It is special to me.

Not only because it helps me get stuff done.

But because it resembles a part of me.

My old friend laughs at the same jokes I do. 

My old friend knows the same stories. It has the same short-hand. 

Even more, my old friend surprises me with insights I haven't thought about in ages. 

---

Do you have a digital thinking companion that you brings you joy?

Do you ever just appreciate what you are cultivating? 

Try this: after a long day, open it up and say:

"Hello, old friend."
