Why I stopped writing (for a long while)

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In my previous post about not writing that you can read here Writing… and why I stopped it for a while I was out of ideas and motivation because I felt, back then, I had nothing to say. Nowadays, it is completely different.

I did post on and off in the past couple of years because I couldn’t do more. I was pulled in million different directions on a personal level, added to the multilayered crisis that we have been going through in my country (Lebanon, ME). At some point, I felt I lost control of my life and I was doing things just for the sake of doing them. I felt tired and fatigued, unmotivated and nothing made sense anymore. Then I was told it was a burnout.

I never took seriously this idea of burnout until it hit me. Coming from a war zone and a troubled region, a burnout was to me another fad societal phenomena of rich countries. I perceived it as a kind of a luxury which wasn’t an option in my country, where life is a serious daily struggle. I have always believed in ambition, strong will and feistiness. So, the illusion of being invincible made pile more tasks and activities, “When I bit off more than I could chew”. Then, burnout happened.

I didn’t seek professional help but a logical one. What do you do when being overwhelmed and overtaken by events? The answer is simple yet difficult: slow down!

I started to do lists of priorities and soon enough I figured out that agitation does not always equal productivity; which made me stop doing what I considered to be unnecessary.

My list of priorities is focused on routines:

• Morning and evening routines (the latter is more difficult to respect)
• Fitness practice schedule
• Seeing family and loved ones
• Reading books including historical and political novels.

It took me time to adapt and adjust but it was helpful.

When I say, “I’m a writer…”

When I say, “I’m a writer,” it does not necessarily mean I am a good one, and certainly not better than most. It does not mean I am sitting next to the highest and most qualified writers of all time. It does not make me special in any way. It’s simply what I do. When […]

When I say, “I’m a writer…”

The Ghosting Of Bloggers

Renard goes into full detail about bloggers ghosting other bloggers.

The Ghosting Of Bloggers

The concept of Black Friday

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It happens on a Friday (sometimes all over the weekend) on the last weekend of November. The concept is to put on sales products to be sold.

The scenery of crowded shops and malls (Covid19 anyone?), people elbowing each others and fighting for an item to buy is so humiliating.

First of all, why weren’t prices low in the first place? If shops can make profit out of super sales then why were products more expensive before Black Friday? Isn’t it a lie?

Big companies will always make profit even on Black Friday. Black Friday is another way to push people to buy things, necessary or unnecessary, who cares? The ultimate goal is to push them to buy. For a lower price, one would be tempted to buy many things. Therefore, more money one would spend and more waste and garbage there would be.

Isn’t it time to wake up?

What is writing?

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(Originally written on October 25th 2012)

As i am sitting here in front of my white screen, it is not obvious for me to write anything, my mind is full of thoughts, ideas, tasks, to-do-lists. Daily life turned us into soldiers in a constant battle against time, wishing we could stretch our days few hours longer than 24. In the circular moving world, the mind is torn apart, too much planning due to too much rationality. We were all brought up on fearless, matter-oriented, wild rationality. We are blocks, living in blocks. The result: our world is a web. Are we unconsciously Hegelian?

Writing is concentration. Clear black on white words that can stop the world for a while, that can free the imagination. Writing is letting go. Writing is drawing images, dancing arabesques on an empty space, making silent music (not very silent, typing is musical). What we get in this experience is chaos, pure immanence, fugitive rays of lights and lines; less poetically, it is energy. Immanent energy. We are not bodies, not souls, but energy, dancing chaotic energy. As long as we are dancing, imagination, creativity, connectivity are saved. Connectivity with the chore of the world , life. Writing saves us.

What is writing? It is dancing.

Do Not Underestimate the Writers’ Role in Society.

We should not underestimate the writers’ role in society. From the beginning of time, knowledge was shared from generation to generation thanks to storytellers who used their artistry to pass on information, knowledge, and wisdom to their community. Writers start writing in solitude but once the work is done writers wish for their words to […]

Do Not Underestimate the Writers’ Role in Society.

What I write for?

At the start, I wanted to write to make myself read and heard, for social media is a great place for self expression. I never thought that I had something brilliant to say but the boiling sensation in me was, and is, an indicator that I should write.

My blogging journey began years ago out of desire to write. Little did I know that blogging was hard work and discipline. Little did I know that I will become an addict. So I read, I write and I share interesting posts I find here and there. Because I believe in sharing; generosity is a big value specially in a world of harsh competitiveness.

What I write for? My main question when my posts are not even viewed. On a deeper level, I write because it is therapeutical. Writing is a generous act. None of us would’ve learned anything hadn’t been great teachers and writers to share with us their knowledge through writings. It was ethically and intellectually therapeutical to them as well as it is for me.

Wandering and wondering in Perpignan!

Wandering and wondering in Perpignan!

Shopping is not the same as buying | Seth’s Blog

Seth Godin, brilliant as always, distinguishes buying from shopping. The latter has more to do with desire, fantasy and pleasure; whilst buying is simply the act of getting of what one needs.

This distinction between desire and needs has been the debate in philosophy for ages. From those who condemned desire as a dangerous futility leading to alienation to those who praised desire as a pure human energy, desire has been the drive of consumerism as an ideology.

For mass consumerism requires mass production and the latter gave birth to injustice, human slavery, economical clash, more class divisions, global warming and the list goes on.

As usual, Seth Godin puts it in simple words and deep thinking. Read its post down below for more food to the mind.

https://seths.blog/2020/12/shopping-is-not-the-same-as-buying/

The writer’s block exists

The idea behind this title is not the block as a block, since one can write whatever comes to their mind. However, the writer’s block exists in terms of creativity and ideas flow.

In philosophy writing, a block can be undone by starting with definition and analysis of the main concept (or concepts). It ensures a depth of the writing without passing by some ramblings found here and there to add more lines/pages. Added to this, and it is the most important part of a philosophical writing ( whether it is an essay or a dissertation or even an explanation of a text) is the questioning part. That’s the real philosophical exercise; otherwise it will be just a presentation.

Then, one can get inspired from other writers or philosophers in case of a philosophical essay. Perhaps quoting some of their paragraphs or even comparing them to other thinkers/philosophers/writers (all depends on the content to be delivered). Not to forget to keep the questioning going.

In conclusion a writer’s block exists in terms of depth and analysis.