Why Launch a Blog Now?

Am I not a bit late to the game? What possible value can I provide to the blog-o-sphere?

Chinese New Year has just finished. I saw a red Stanley flask on sale at Starbucks in Shanghai this afternoon with the words “Fortune Favors the Bold” emblazoned across the top.

This has nothing to do with me launching a blog. I just thought the timing was a bit interesting.

Like many of you, this past year has been one defined by plans changed. We thought we’d be in New York City at this time, starting our family life in the United States, spending holiday time with my larger family along beautiful Lake Michigan. That was the plan, and it seemed to be moving along well for over a year. Oops!

I am now grateful that the move to New York didn’t work out, but it took me a long time to come to terms with it. I’m now ok to keep living in Shanghai. It’s a very well-managed city, offers the world’s best cuisine, and the air is good. It’s much much better than many others are experiencing. So, I’ve chosen to nurture gratitude over disappointment.

Back to the question of why I wish to launch and manage a blog. This past year has provided an excellent opportunity to take stock of who I am, what I like to do, and how I wish to spend the coming years.

• I love communicating. Whether speaking, writing, or coaching, I enjoy it all. And, I love to share ideas and teach. I’ve been doing it for years as part of my paid work, and there’s no reason why I can’t continue to nurture this as an unpaid medium if it helps people. This blog is in that spirit.

• Looking back over my journals over the past decade or more, I saw a goal written, re-written and re-written again in various language and across a variety of mediums. Publish a book. The best way to make this happen is to maintain the discipline of writing regularly.

• I want to be useful. I’ve become tired of social media and the inability to offer a dissenting opinion. So, instead of commenting on a piece of news and generating conflict with someone I care about who doesn’t agree, I thought it may be better to develop long-form articles that require more thought.

• I’ve now lived nearly half my life outside the US, primarily Beijing and then Shanghai. But, I’ve also had the privilege of living briefly in Scotland and for a time in Wales. Hence, while I still have certain attributes that are characteristically American, having lived all my adult years away from my native country has given me a different lens. I don’t feel like I belong to any culture, which is both frustrating and liberating. Hopefully this lens can provide a useful perspective to events as I write about them.

So, thank you for reading this. I will try to write content that is helpful and be useful. Feel free to “follow” me and sign up for the posts as they are posted, and email me if there is an idea you wish me to write about.

Cheers for now.