Category: Newsletter

June 2023 Newsletter: change is in the air

So it’s that time again. Another month, another newsletter. This month is going to be a big one, so strap in and get ready. But first…

Mental Health Awareness Month

So series take a bit to write. Just because I have an idea doesn’t mean it’ll get published in time. I had a few articles in the pipeline that just didn’t quite make it into the series and that is okay. This last month I talked about my birth defect and it felt good; it was a huge mental health milestone for me! Later in the month I wanted to talk about Men in modern society and talk about overcoming exhaustion but alas, the month ended before I could finish either article. But all-in-all, a success.

Remember to take time for your mental health, it’s important! A lot of the work is messy and takes a concentrated effort but is well worth it. Remember to check in with your friends, it’s rough out there and be kind to yourself.

How is Mike’s Life?

About to go nuclear. Today I achieved my first major adulting milestone and that is having enough in my savings to pay off my student loans. I shed a single tear and felt the sun for the first time in a decade. My thoughts have, in a moment, shifted entirely towards the future. And the future is New Zealand. It is crazy to think I am five months away and I cannot be more excited. Speaking of the future…

Subscriber only posts and other musings

So, I’ve had this blog for eight years now and I’ve been blogging for ten. This is a personal blog and I’ve been doing everything on my own since the beginning. All posts have been free up to this point. I’ve played around with Patreon and Ko-fi as well as other revenue streams but ultimately decided not to worry about it as the blog started as a way for myself to improve my communication skills. Now, as I prep for New Zealand, I realize extra money from writing would be fantastic. So starting this month, some of the posts on the blog will be subscriber only. Right now the plan is to have the newsletter and the first post of the month free, with additional posts each month set aside for subscribers. As such, very little will change, as I’ve typically only be doing a newsletter and an article. The paid content will hopefully encourage me to write more and add a bonus each month for those who really love the content. I’m going to start with $5 a month as I think that’s fair but I’m going to play around to see what works best. I’m also going to start adding the donation button to the bottom of each newsletter in case anyone wants to help out without having to subscribe.

Marketing

Marketing, hooray! Marketing is an ongoing battle with this blog. For the last couple years, I’ve opted for a Facebook page (thank God I gave up on Twitter) and the WordPress reader. And the growth, while great has been slow. So, this year, I’m going to work on the marketing and my hope is it’ll bring more traffic to the blog. And also remember, word of mouth is the best marketing! So if you enjoy my content remember to tell your friends!

Other Fun Stuff with Mike’s Life

Half marathon training is going well and I feel in better shape than I did in high school. Coding is now a focus! With New Zealand fast approaching, I’ve been finishing up my coding lessons before AI takes over. I’ve also befriended chatGPT, in case it does become world ending.

And that’s a wrap! Life is busy right now but we are in the home stretch! Also, next month is sustainability month!

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February/March 2023 Newsletter: A New Chapter begins

Talk about stepping on the gas peddle. I went from doing four part time jobs for about 30 hours a week to one full time, contract job for 40 hours a week. As it turns out, 10 hours makes a huge difference. So instead of having the newsletter at the beginning of the month, we’re doing it at the end as a double whammy March and February Newsletter.

So, How am I doing?

On paper, I am doing great. My dreams are coming true, I’m making the most I’ve ever made, and I’m branching out in emotionally healthy ways. However, I am exhausted most days and I attribute this to overall weariness after graduating college. A Pandemic and the death of a father have been draining experiences to say the least. I’m hoping once I get back into my healthy habits, I can ease the burden a bit. However, even knowing I have the tools at my disposal, I know the only way my life is going to excel is by doing something extraordinary.

A Year of Mental Health

Last year was kind on my mental health, I took a break to slow things down and learned about stoicism along the way. This year, I’m going to be digging a little deeper and in May, I have most (if not all the articles) for Mental Health Awareness Month planned. One will cover the male malaise and the other will cover imperfection. Ideally, I’ll talk more about my craniosynostosis but only time will tell. And I’m going to take a deep dive of what keeps pulling me into my past. The last couple weeks have proven that my mental health isn’t quite where I want it to be and that’s ok. I have a lot of stressors right now and I’m only human.

The Revival of Adventure

If you’ve been waiting for more travel related articles, it has finally come. With my trip to New Zealand, I will have plenty to talk about but before then, I’m hoping to write a bit more about my goals for this year. I am an avid runner (or was) and with a half marathon, I can finally prove I still have the discipline to face down my toughest challenges head on. And I want to document this journey, so this year may well be a hodgepodge of all that will be done.

March…

So, this year is a little chaotic. I am taking more time for myself, which is good but it also means a bit more of going with the flow. So February I missed the newsletter deadline and while I had most of it written, I simply didn’t hit publish. The important article was my new year post, which I did manage to accomplish (although not in January). This month should be much better than last month as I finally settle into my new role and have a bit more room to breathe.

Life getting an update

I’m long overdue for a bit of a reboot. It’s a year about making the extra effort count and letting the pieces fall in place. It’s a year about having faith and it’s a year where I can be truly free. Each paycheck is going towards my savings and with it, a guarantee that I will be debt free before I turn 30. The next focus is the money I do make and a focus on adaptability. The future job markets will require flexibility and I’m hoping to finally get established this upcoming year.

Dating

I’m at a point in my life where it can really go either way. I’ve developed a lot of healthy habits towards dating and am working on feeling less urgency to settle down. My life is not really conducive to settling down right now. No dating apps but dating coaches I’m open to. Friends setting me up and meeting people in person? Yes please. It’s a chaotic process and my time is better spent other places. But also understand now that I’m older that it may be a necessary one. I have great relationships and enjoy my own company (most days) but there is still an element missing and perhaps it is time I prioritize that element just as much as everything else.

Keep on keeping on

So I have to remember to stay on the path, specifically, my path. I tend to overextend and suffer for it. This year is about knowing my goals and following through. And by knowing my goals, I mean really knowing them. Knowing why I’m doing something and having it lead to a better life. I’m tired of spinning my wheels, waiting on others, and being at the mercy of the world. I have not felt like I’ve had control over my life since graduation. And while in freefall, I’ve been just barely able to hang on. That is the truth. My purpose in this world has been lost in the chaos and that’s what worries me the most. That I am adrift without an anchor. It is so hard to fight back the fear and not let it crush me. So here’s to hoping.

This Month

I’m going to try to get out another article, thinking about writing one on dating apps. It’s going to be pretty low key as I keep my head to the grindstone and work on making sure everything is in place for later this year. As always, thanks for reading!

January 2023 Newsletter: Mike Cole’s year wrapped

What a year. As has become tradition at this point, I’m using the January newsletter to illustrate the previous year. I’ve fiddled around with the title a bit and since literally everything else has a “wrapped” this year, I figured I would too!

How My Year Starts

As I sit in my room, sipping on my coffee, I thought it’d be fun to go over how I like to start my year. Each year, I like to brew myself a cup of coffee and make myself breakfast. My new hobby has been listening to lofi and I have chill beats playing as I write. Now fast forward a week two weeks and here I sit once more. I am excited to say I just wrapped up my third day first week at my new job. A New Year, A New me. Once I finish this article, I can once more post my New Year’s resolutions to this site and thus begin again what has become annual tradition. In December I wrote about my habits and what I had achieved in 2022 and can say with confidence that I am proud. From being a man who was content to bum along to someone who has dared to dream, my journey has been long and the fruits I planted many years ago have become an orchard. Last year I highlighted the past but 2022 was a year spent living in the present, with much of the thanks going to the daily stoic. So, let’s highlight some of it!

MMO’s and going full nerd

This last year I doubled down on my gaming and found an MMO I enjoyed in Elder Scrolls Online. I have not played an MMO since Runescape and it’s been fun simply getting lost in a world. In ESO I officially joined a guild and have been working on finding communities that align with my interest. Whether I pick up another MMO remains TBD but most likely not as we’re talking hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of content with just one. With my new job, I’ll have less time to game so I’m in the process of figuring out my schedule as I readjust to having fulltime work. Pokémon Go I’m still active with and it’s been a year of questing through my hometown to catch them all. And looking at my wrapped, I apparently walked 930km or 578 miles thus far! I’m really glad I’m leaning more into my nerdy tendencies as I feel like that’s been missing from my life as of late.

This Year

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want out of the blog this year. This year will mark the 9th year my blog has been in existence and as I’ve learned over the years there is always something to improve. I’ve been thinking a lot about my own personal mental health and what I want to talk about come mental health awareness month and might even get an early start on writing the articles. I’ve also been looking at what’s been working and what hasn’t over the last year (fortunately more has worked than has not). As I’ve mentioned a bit before, I really want to start looking at my writing as a whole. For the last 9 years, I’ve been winging it and outside of an English class here or there, I haven’t really had any formal training. Do I need it, I don’t really know. I’ve seen fantastic writers over the years and read beautiful articles, so it’d be interesting to see how I can push myself even further.

New Zealand and other things

So, I just recently got my passport back and it is now good for the next ten years! I have one dream for this year and that is to do a working holiday visa. I’m anxious and stressed but also very excited as things are seemingly lining up to make this a reality. I plan to bring my camera if I do end up going over, so here’s to hoping everything continues to go well!

More Dating Articles

Speaking of looking at data regarding certain articles, one category that has done surprisingly well has been when I’ve talked about dating. It is odd because I don’t date often and truth be told I have yet to be in a long term committed relationship. That’s not to say I haven’t tried but it has been a long, messy process filled with few highs and a whole lot of chaos. Apparently most men don’t get bit by women, who knew? In the past, I always thought I should be going on dates and having these crazy adventures to talk about dating but this year I’m going to try something a little different. I’m going to start to open up and be a little more candid about my experiences as well as some of my speculations. There’ll be the craziness of it all for sure but I want to share more of the difficulties I’ve been having and talk about my thoughts on the current dating scene. I’m super excited and hope you like the content I have planned!

Are My Business Articles Dead?

One aspect of my blog that has changed over the years is what I write about. To think I used to write a lot of business articles on my blog! What I hadn’t realized is how much my blog has changed over the years and in turn, myself. Writing business articles no longer interests me as much as it once did! I enjoy talking about business related subjects but in terms of the time dedicated to writing an article I would honestly much rather spend that time talking about mental health, fitness, games, or other subjects that I find to be more interesting. So this year is going to have renewed focus on what I write and while I love business, it’s an easy subject to get writers block on and doesn’t bring in the views.

2022 is officially wrapped and what a year it was! 2023 is already shaping up to be a very exciting year with a lot of big changes! Expect my new year’s resolution post in a few weeks! As a preview, the year theme is “new beginnings”. As always, thanks for reading!

December 2022 Newsletter: An End to Bad Habits

So it is officially December and what a year! The biggest changes have been to my habits and this newsletter we’re going to do a little reflecting.

One Hell of a Ride

Usually I save the reflection for January but as fate would have it, Habitica has a New Year Resolution challenge. For the challenge, it’s asking for reflection during December and thus I write. So let’s dive in.

My goals have all been reached but one. This year I set out to learn as much as I could and I’m impressed with what I was able to accomplish. It was slow going but the wheel still turned. In Duolingo, I was in the top 8% for learners and spent a total of 953 minutes learning, which comes out to be a 16 hour total! I was able to reach a 50 day streak and am on track to make it for 365 days. My top languages were Spanish and French, staying true to my word.

In total, I cooked four meals this year and about a thousand quesadillas. I learned how to make French Toast and figured out the dishes that would give me the most bang for my buck. My cooking habits are in a good spot and I’ll be looking forward to more meals next year.

I walked a lot this year! I wish I had the data on how much walking I did but alas I do not. Pokémon Go got me out of the house and adventuring more than I ever have before. My Ebike has now hit over 500 miles on it and got me where I needed to go.

On WordPress, I wrote over 17000 words and averaged around 800 words per article! And this year saw 180 likes on my content!

With Piano, I practiced a bit during the summer and invested in online learning platforms. It is the final stretch and I’m going to try to learn the basics by year’s end. All other goals have been reached, this is it!

Challenges Faced

The greatest obstacle I faced was myself, as cliché and cringe as it sounds. I’ve learned that much of my life has been a failure to fully commit. I will tell myself to do something and the hours will not match. No matter how smart I am, I failed to understand what I wanted and to put the hours in. This realization came from my quest to Diamond League in Duolingo. Duolingo I used to do the bare minimum. I would do a quick lesson just to keep a streak going until eventually giving up. And then a friend added me on Duolingo. I started competing and haven’t stopped since. With this, I realized how much work I need to be putting into everything I do and really just enjoy the journey. French has made me want to pull my hair out until I just chuckled and let it be as it was. Progress is progress no matter how slow. For this next year, I want to reach a level where I put in the work and see the payoff. I say this every year but each year I get a bit closer; the difference now is I know exactly what I need to do.

Planning for Next Year

An end to bad habits. This year has really seen me digging into the trenches and pulling out all that goes bump in the night. I have really come into my own and looking back I feel a sense of completeness. What I set out to do this year has changed my way of thinking and has made me realize the importance of doubling down. There is always something new to learn and always room for improvement. Finishing up my habits has given me a new perspective on my blogging and made me realize how much I can improve. The format of my site I’m in love with and now I want to really focus on content. Doubling down and really writing my heart out. There are so many ways I can expand my writing and I feel like I’m in a good spot to set out on this journey.

Goals for Next Year

As I begin drafting my resolutions for next year, I’m really taking a look at where I want to be. This year has had a heavy focus on my habits and laid a foundation that I’m happy with. Coding I’ve begun earning certificates, which a few months ago I never thought I’d get to. I have an understanding of what I want to use coding for and have made steady progress getting there. Piano I’ve learned half a song and am jumping back into it to finish the year strong. Cooking adult recipes on my own has been great. So in all honesty, it might be a lot of the same with an emphasis on the hours I put in. I want to really sit down and be with my habits, strategizing with an end in mind. As this year comes to a close, I want to thank everyone for reading my blog and if I don’t post anything else this month, look forward to seeing everyone next year!

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