How do I master the art of living? I’ve been in pursuit of that answer for most of my adult life. Every time I think I have all of the answers, they change the questions.

Something that I’ve come to realize is this blog has to be first and foremost for me. It has to be a place where I have the freedom to explore my curiosity wherever it may lead. The world has become ever more niched and specialized. Follow any link on ‘how to blog’ and inevitably you’ll reach the bullet point that says you have to find your niche.

But niching is not in my job description.

If you’re looking for my niche, you’ll be looking for a long time because I have no niche apart from life itself and the experience of living. I have folks like Herodotus and Montaigne as my guides. Herodotus for the Hi(s)-tories and Montaigne, as the life philosopher, for his Essays. It’s from these two that I draw my inspiration.

Over the weekend, I found myself back to the Essays and Sarah Bakewell‘s book How to Live: a Life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer. This book, in particular, reminded me of why I blog in the first place which is to document and explore things I am interested in – things that I am reading or watching or listening to and then sharing my thoughts on those things in public.

I guess, like a lot of people, I fancy the idea of monetizing the blog. And this is what has led me astray – getting seduced by books like Freedom is Blogging in Your Underwear.

Anyway, I’m done with that. This blog is for me to explore my thoughts and document the things I find. I welcome others’ company here either in the comments or by email or on Twitter.

Of course, if something I write about or podcast or vlog about inspires you or causes you to have an epiphany then feel free, as a thank you, to buy me a cup of ko-fi, or the next time you’re about to buy something from Amazon, consider using my Amazon affiliate link. It doesn’t cost you anything and I get a little kickback off the price of anything you buy. It doesn’t even have to be the book or product I’m linking to. It just has to be my link.

A question from today…