For the past year, I’ve been on what amounts to a forced sabbatical. There were many days where the most I could do was open my laptop, and close the lid.

Before this, I often found it difficult to write and share my thoughts and process. I believe in doing things out loud, and that nothing worth doing can be done alone. Not knowing how to start approached physical pain, an awkward juxtaposition between having so much to say, yet not knowing how to say it.

The more you don’t do something, the easier it is not to, and the more reasons you mound around the plan as to how high the stakes are, the imagined penalties of a false start.

It’s the problem of showing and telling. It’s easy to take the engineer’s perspective and stay hidden behind the command line. There’s certainly some quiet dignity in that, though software unused is an unheard wave that ripples in the wilderness.

I’m fortunate that I can emerge from this still holding on to what matters to me. Simply stating this, and sharing it, is one step. A small reminder that it’s possible. A reason to open the lid tomorrow.