Howdy, world!

This is my first post on Mirror.

I am excited, but I am also anxious. This is, after all, my inaugural post on a Web3 platform for writers.

I feel a lot of pressure.

But, it’s primarily self-imposed pressure, not external pressure. I guess remnants from a recovering perfectionist, people pleaser, and corporate slave.

Will the above named person please stand up?

Yes. Here, that is me.

Please, if you will, tell us about this pressure.

Well, the pressure that I feel is not external. No person or entity is imposing pressure on me. No..no.. I left that behind in the corporate world, along with workaholism and artificial deadlines.

Here, today, on Mirror, we are in crypto territory: the future of work. We proselytize self-sovereignty, autonomy, and independence.

I know this very well, yet still, as I write my first post on this Web3 platform, I catch myself with familiar anxious thoughts:

Who am I to be writing on Mirror?

My writing is forever permanent…holy shit.

Will anyone even read this post?

Wait…I’m asking for people to buy a NFT of this post?

Who am I to be asking people to buy a post that I wrote where I ..umm…share my feelings…?

If you are a human being living in 2021, you know what it’s like to feel anxiety before sharing your thoughts. You know what it's like to send your first Discord message to a new community or to write an epic Twitter thread.

I have been facing this anxiety head-on for close to a year now since I started writing a newsletter on Substack. Albeit scary, it has been an amazing personal growth experience.

Anna Gát, the founder of Interintellect, nudged me to write in public and to start a newsletter. I am so appreciative of her. Anna, if you are reading this, thank you!

Why did I accept the nudge?

Well, I accepted it because I really wanted to clarify my thinking. It was 2020, the beginning of a global pandemic, and things were weird. I started writing for myself, to improve my thinking.

I didn't start a newsletter to become famous or to build a massive audience or make a bunch of money.

No. I know that chasing after fame and money is a trap.

How so?

Well, the chase for fame and money messes with your mental health and makes you make dumb decisions. You’re so busy and distracted focusing on external validation and pressures, that you don’t create real value. You don’t make the world a better place. You’re too busy focusing on getting ahead.

Here’s a fun thought that just creeped up:

But..but..umm.. what if I do get famous?

Lol. Calm down there, Rika’s ego.

One thing that has significantly helped me to calm down and not put the cart in front of the horse is metacognition.

Ha-ha, yep - you caught that, right? I used a meta word.

Lol. It’s funny how meta has become mainstream since, well, you know, that massive tech company PR’d the crap out of the term.

I first heard the term metacognition when I joined Ness Labs, a community that helps growth-minded, curious people get better without sacrificing their mental health. The founder, Anne-Laure, is an ex-Googler turned neuroscience student.

Metacognition is when you think about your thinking. It’s rooted in a writing practice called Interstitial Journaling, where you keep a log of your thoughts while you work. Interstitial journaling is a really powerful way to unlock thought patterns that may keep you stuck and unproductive.

The anxious thoughts from the beginning of this post are thoughts I noted while practicing Interstitial Journaling. They used to be real trouble makers and cause me to procrastinate and not complete work, but once I started to notice them, they lost their grip on me.

I am reminded of the Litany Against Fear from Dune:

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

I have some hypotheses around where this Web3 and crypto thing is going. And how it will influence the future of writing and publishing. But, I don’t actually know. No one does. We’re just all here, together, shaping the future.

It seems like some stuff for the history books that we’ll be telling our kids about one day.

Thanks for being along for the ride!