To say that things are scattered and that attention spans are short is as big an understatement I can conjure up pre 6:00 a.m.  I actually considered what time I would put a post out the other day in order to maximize readership. Good lord. What have I become. The truth of the matter is. If the story and message are good, you’ll likely find it. Well and if not. There’s always tomorrow. 

Somewhere along the way the appetite for new swallowed the demand for quality. I know I’m as guilty of it from both consumption and production. Write everyday. Say something important on one end.  “I wish this were more concise, I’m not watching videos.” On the other. And yet still. Story continues to matter. 

Not only does story matter, but some of the best storytellers repeat a lot of the same stories (most their origins) over and over. The repetition doesn’t wear us out like you’d think. Or maybe it does some people, but maybe the repetition isn’t for them. It’s for new people to get the message and apply it. 

I know I sometimes tell my story to someone and think “My god this a bore fest.” only to have them say “Wow. That’s really cool.”  I mean I have added in a chapter in which I win every race I competed in during 2011 for effect, like people are going to go check that out. (them’s jokes people). 

For a long time I felt like I had to come up with more and more and more. Slowly though, I realized I need to repeat better and better and better. That the story, while not fully written, has some good parts that people want to hear already. That and using that story to make you think should be my focus. Not that I shouldn’t come up with new and better ways, just that creating pressure to create for the sake of it as well as an overly strategic approves just creates more crap as opposed to something with meaning. And meaning is what we are looking for. 

What that means for you is maybe you’ll see the same message re-packed. They say that we have to see a resonant message 7 times before we act on it, and luckily for you, I realize it’s not seven times in the same post. It means you’ll hear about night swimming and fat Pat and healthy eating and depressive episodes and how exercise isn’t just for weight loss but mental health and my songs and my writing and my lack of confidence in all of that...hey that’s a lot of shit. Maybe this story won’t be so bad after all. 

#hugsandhi5s