I’ve been writing blogs for close to 20 years. I most certainly don’t do it for the money or the fame. Very few people have read it, so why bother?
I started blogging for two reasons:
I started blogging for two reasons:- I love technology and wanted to try it out and explore the opportunities
- I had just started a new adventure in my life, moving from Canada to Europe.
I enjoyed doing it for about four years, but I slowly started to think about blogs for my business website. Ultimately, they drifted off as I moved to semi-retirement.
When we went on our world tour a couple of years ago, I posted daily on Facebook, as I had many interested friends. Afterwards, I realized they weren’t accessible for me or my memories. It was at that time I decided to establish a blog. I don’t make any money for a lot of work. Writing is a way for me to create memories from my experiences.
I wrote about memories from another and another. I thought I would expand a little bit more. Writing a blog is typing, not handwriting, these days. I can serve the same purpose in college. I took extensive notes but never looked at them again to study. It was way too hardwired into my brain. I think there is a similarity between the two.
It’s like writing a letter to a friend.
I've been taking pictures recently that have been taken before, and you can find many of them on the Internet. So why bother? It is one step to turning an experience into a memory.
I am not advocating hard copies of photos anymore, though skimming through them is still wonderful. But it isn’t as practical anymore to have physical photos since my parents passed away. My brother took all the pictures and digitized them. Since we don’t have children who will ever be interested in that point, I imagine they will also disappear. I asked myself why I bothered.
At what age does having memories serve no purpose?
I feel almost obsessed with doing a few things that were once on my bucket list, whether they were on my bucket list or not. Knowing I will only be on this earth for a few more years, I wonder if these memories would be relevant experiences.
So why do I write a blog?
Because I know that learning helps in the aging process. I think it is a desire to remain curious and wonder about life on Earth.
I will not leave a legacy, and my remaining memories are short. It’s a good life, and I want to enjoy it as much and for as long as possible. Life is good, and it is brief.
Over the years, I’ve discovered that I am particularly good at research. At least, that’s what my friends insist, as they always come to me with questions. I think it’s because they know I will find the answer if I don’t know it. If you read Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point, you’ll see I am a “maven, agent of change. “
Research has become more challenging these days. It was relatively easy to determine good sources in the past, but now, with the Internet and the flood of fake news, fake people, and fake reviews, it’s become much more challenging.
The chart to the right is a good start.
Have I made mistakes?
You bet I have. Sometimes, I forget to check with scopes.com; other times, I’ve been sloppy.
While there’s nothing wrong with trusting your instinct, verifying is always essential.
Instinct isn’t arbitrary
That gut feeling often comes from an accumulation of your experiences and knowledge in the past that, somehow, your mind put together but can’t define logically. It’s also helpful to trust the gut feelings of those around you, whom you know have good judgement.
In that sense, you are a lot like AI and ChatGPT. How well you design your prompt will dictate how good your research is. You may be researching with a personal bias, you are not aware of having.
I can’t tell you how many times my partner and I have supposedly searched for precisely the same thing in Google, Yahoo, Bing, or DuckDuckGo, only to come up with totally different information.
Part of it takes practice, but I also think it has to do with the ability to problem-solve. Problem-solving often does not start with the problem but deconstructing and working from the end backwards. That sounds a little convoluted, but I’m unsure I can explain it better.
If it's an important issue related to travel and planning, I take a lot of time to let the information resonate on the back burner of my mind.
How do I do what I do?
Today, we have too much information; distilling it down has become a monumental task. The good news is that some great tools are out there to help us. The bad news is that we often don’t know those tools. A keen interest in and curiosity about technology have served me well.
Technology not only simplifies the process of finding things but is also very effective in identifying what isn’t real. Yes, I do think AI has a place to pull data together, but it can not stand alone.
I’ve mentioned that search engines are an OK place to start. It’s important to remember that, generally speaking, these search engines feed you what you want based on their data analysis and algorithms.
The absolute worst place for research is Facebook. You shouldn’t trust anything from them, even if a Facebook Group is adequately vetted. Many things may slip by as facts that are only opinions. Now, if you are clear that it is what it is, there is nothing wrong with an opinion, and better if you have some data to back it up.
Be Transparent
Remember that all advice and recommendations are personal, and it is usually not put into context; for example, my information is based on being an educated white woman of privilege in her 70s who can afford to travel.
I would be glad if you found what I have to share useful. Let me know below.
