I decided to implement a blog; but why? I am beginning to ask myself that question as its system nears a relatively complete state. I can say that before I started I didn't have much to work on, and that was kind of a problem; having something to work or hack on, a challenge to face and (ideally) overcome, something on which to express all this nervous energy, is important to me. This website, and the process of building it, has become a valuable outlet.
It started a couple years ago with a desire to share from books that I had been reading, and I couldn't find any existing applications that fit the bill in a satisfactory way. So I set to building, first with Go/React as the tech stack, then somewhat later on migrating to NextJS in TypeScript. If I remember correctly, I moved to NextJS after I realized how much work and research it would take to implement (in Go) some responsive designs that I wanted on the frontend; I really enjoyed working with Go, but NextJS suited my needs well enough that I decided to migrate.
But I somewhat digress. Another reason that I decided to add a blog to this site is because I felt that writing posts would be a good exercise in original, authentic expression. And I have two particular passions from which to draw inspiration: software engineering and the study of, for lack of a better word, individuation. Individuation, if you are not familiar, is a term coined by Carl Jung and is essentially defined as the lifelong process an individual must go through in order to develop into their genuine, authentic self. To me, it represents the journey inward; the great task and trial of finding, facing, and becoming one's true self. This process, I believe, is also known as the "soul search."
I've spent the last couple years here curating excerpts from books I've read; largely works on psychology, philosophy, religion, and mythology. But then, finally, I felt it was about time that I take the step to enable and attempt original expressions of my own. In the past I have certainly been prone to simply parroting what others have said in order to express myself, but lately I have been working to change that, and this blog is to be a tool for that process of growth and change. That being said, I don't know who will take interest in what I have to say, and I suppose it doesn't much matter; the main point is to stop echoing others and find my own voice. So there you have it.