original publication date: 06.27.2024
Edited for clarity.

06.26.2024

Hi,

It's been a while since the last update. I'm not mentioning the time lag because I feel pressured to update. It's because I had an update to write but I hadn't written it.

There's a recent trend in my life to sort of knock down the confidence I have built regarding the skills I have been developing. I find this to be a positive thing because it keeps me humble.

So, what's the latest news then? Oh god, it's so embarrassing to write. I left off the decision to use the tools I was somewhat comfortable with to build the website. After that, I had the bright idea of working on the website's structure in TiddlyWiki/Blink. And I don't know why that was a good idea. The previous mind garden taught me to build the content and then the website.

I got arrogant. I didn't listen which led to many hours wasted.

I got arrogant because as a side project of that mind garden, I made a template. Because I have that template, I thought building the website's structure was gonna be easy-peasy.

It wasn't.

I still don't know why it wasn't working at all.

So, lesson learned. Focus on the content of the website and THEN the website itself.

What I should have done was gather the content I wanted to add to the website. Make a draft structure of sorts in the same software I made the mind garden, Obsidian, and transfer all the content to the TiddlyWiki/Blink file and build the structure from there.

I mentioned a trend at the beginning because this exercise in humility is similar to what I experienced in my recent trip around Europe in regards to the train system. The more I traveled, the more confidence I got in being able to navigate the system. However, that confidence exploded to bits the moment I arrived in another country, usually speaking a language I didn't know. I got lost countless times until I found my way. Truly, the most arrogant thing I could say when recounting this trip is that I'm an expert in navigating the European train systems.

Ha! I'm not. I'm the one who's most aware of it.

The lesson here is that no matter the amount of experience I have built around a skill, there will always be something I don't know. There's always something new to learn, and if I want to develop as a human being, I need to be open to the possibility of being ignorant and wrong. They aren't something I should be ashamed of but part of life. Their moral quality is null. Thus, there's no reason to be ashamed or frustrated. Those emotions are part of the experience. Because I acknowledge I feel those things, it means I was overconfident which was a silly human thing to do.

Learn from tripping up over your own feet. Stand up, dust yourself off, and keep moving. One foot in front of the other will get you places you cannot even imagine. I think that's one of the beautiful things about life.