Tag / blogging

by Ricardo Sanchez

Are You in an Abusive Relationship with Your Phone

I watched the movie Alice, Darling, which made me think of abusive relationships. I will not describe the film here, but you should watch it, it’s good.

One of the thoughts that came to mind after the movie is how aside from people, other things are abusive to relationships. For example, bad habits, social media, and video streaming are vicious when not measured and restricted – just like abusive people.

Our bad habits allow these abusive relationships with technology to flourish, but don’t blame yourself yet. Modern apps and digital ecosystems are specifically designed for us to use them constantly, to make us feel part of a community, all while making us ignore the natural world and people around us. By ‘digital ecosystems,’ I’m referring to the interconnected networks of software, hardware, and services that make up the digital landscape we interact with daily. This includes social media platforms, search engines, and mobile applications, among others.
Just like abusive people in many relationships, digital ecosystems make you believe they care about you, but they don’t. Their goal is primarily attention-grabbing at best and manipulation at worst.

It sounds ridiculous to think of apps and technology as abusive partners, but they are. They embed themselves into our daily lives. They are why many of us ignore the world around us, our families, partners, kids, friends, etc. It happens, and I recognize people experience this at different levels, but most of us dedicate more time to technology (apps, gadgets, etc.) than to our beloved humans.

What’s the solution? I don’t know. I place myself in a position that helps me ignore technology. For example, when I sit to eat, I try not to take my phone out of my pocket. It stays there, which helps me avoid glancing at it occasionally. I work from home, so to separate my work life from my personal life, I add physical space. For example, I allocate specific hours to work and walk away from my work desk once I am done with it. I also only work on that desk during the week, during my work hours.

I have moved apps off of the home screen on my phone and only have what I consider essential apps there. For example, I have all notifications disabled. I look at the messaging app my family often uses to find out if there are any important messages from a family member. If an emergency arises, I’ll get a call.

I removed all work-related applications from my phone as well. So when I am off work, I am off work. And if an emergency came up where someone would need my assistance, they could text me or call me.

Technology has become an integral part of our lives today, and it’s hard to imagine living without it. However, it’s important to recognize that sometimes technology can be abusive to our relationships, just like people can. The constant use of technology can make us ignore the world around us, including our loved ones. Therefore, it’s up to us to take control of our relationship with technology and create boundaries.

The solutions mentioned in this essay are just a few ways to help us break free from the constant cycle of notifications, alerts, and the pressure to be connected 24/7. By taking control of our relationship with technology, we can ensure that our time and attention are directed toward the things that truly matter, our family, friends, and the natural world around us. So, let’s strive to be mindful of our technology use and create healthy relationships with it.

by Ricardo Sanchez

Allowing yourself to try something new

For years, my favorite drink of choice in the mornings and the evenings has been coffee. But occasionally, enjoy a hot cup of tea, specifically chamomile tea. That is the only tea that I would drink.

A few days ago, as I was about to start organizing some of my photos after dinner, I decided to get a cup of tea. To my surprise, the chamomile tea was gone, nada. And for the first time, I decided to try one of the many other teas we have at home. I felt brave, walked to the pantry, and grabbed some black tea. It was wonderful. A few days later, we were still out of chamomile tea, and I again picked a different tea, masala chai. It was even better than the simple black tea.

While taking advantage of different tea flavors is unimportant, this simple activity made me wonder how many other things I have missed for not wanting to try new things. I consider myself open-minded and a person who seeks new experiences, but I could be more of an explorer when it comes to daily life and work.

I noticed that when I’m home, I often eat the same things, watch the same stuff, spend time the same way, etc. When traveling, I often try new things, spend my time out and about, and work is often better. My experience while at home is what we usually call a routine. A routine in itself is not a bad thing. Having a routine helps me stay focused, productive, and happy. But adding some variety to it helps sparks creativity and even happiness.

You can have a routine and still try a new approach to working or spending your day. My goal is not to stay in my comfort zone, at least not in the areas where I want to experience and learn more. It all starts with small decisions, a different tea flavor, a different approach to a problem at work, reading a book on a topic I wouldn’t choose before, etc. Exposing yourself to new things can expand your world and perspective and make life, even the routine, more interesting.

We are still out of chamomile tea a week later, and it is okay.

by Ricardo Sanchez

My bookstore addiction

Do you like bookstores? I do, and apparently, many other people do too. Why? A bookstore is a place full of wonder and imagination. Each book can be a window into a different world, a unique story, perspective, or something new to learn. Walking around bookstores feeds my motivation to continue reading, learning, discovering, and writing. Books and magazines are, for me, more interesting than social media. There’s something about its staticity; it’s a written memory or thought captured and shared via a book or a moment captured in time via a photo in a magazine.

Bookstores are a place of happiness for me. The problem is, it is also a place where I can compulsively buy books and magazines and then not read them in a while—why? Is this a problem for you too? I do read a lot, and I mean a lot. Since late last year, I started the idea of reading a book per week, and I’ve been able to do it for the most part. Of course, I have skipped a few weeks here and there due to having a great time on holiday with the family. But even with all that reading, I still have a reading queue that keeps increasing due to buying books and magazines almost every time I walk into one of these beautiful, magical places we call bookstores.

The good news is I am balancing my reading with writing and note-taking. Reading without the writing or note-taking part is just entertainment, which is OK too. Most books I read have something in them that I want to remember or use in my daily life, and that happens even with fiction books. I am learning a simple way to develop my second brain to help me memorize pieces of information that I want to refer to later. I’ll share more details about this in a future post.

One of my current projects is to create a photo book showcasing bookstores from around the world, displaying photos of the outside and the bookstore interiors. I want to capture their essence as much as possible. And while one picture is worth a thousand words, I plan to write a few paragraphs describing each bookstore, my experience, and other information about its location, history, etc.

I have been taking photos of every bookstore I visit around the world, and already have a nice collection of pictures. I will continue to visit bookstores whenever I have a chance. This project was and will continue to be an excuse to visit as many bookstores as possible.

This photo book project will probably be done by the end of this year and depending on how I feel about it, I might continue working on it one way or another. A website where I keep adding bookstore photos and description is also an option.

Maybe one day I will satisfy my hunger for bookstores by opening my own, but it is perhaps the experience of traveling and visiting different bookstores that I enjoy.

by Ricardo Sanchez

The Logbook – part 3.

I wrote a brief post about starting a logbook in January 2021 and then an update on April 2021. This is the latest update about my use of the logbook, the tools I use for it, and how I plan to use it this year.

The logbook is a mini daily planner that I use to log daily activities and anything you want or need. There aren’t any rules or templates. Write down what you want each day, and log your day as detailed or briefly as you wish.

My use of the logbook has been very casual. I don’t write on it daily, but I want to change that. However, it’s been helpful, especially when looking back and learning more about my almost daily life. The logbook helps me think and capture data about my everyday life.

This year, I have specific questions I want to answer daily using my logbook. For example:

  • How much money did I spend today?
  • How much water do I consume every day?
  • How many cups of coffee do I consume every day?
  • Ideas and random thoughts

I’ve been doing this for about two years, but casually. I plan on writing casually in my logbook, but questions like the above need to be answered daily, which is my goal.

Why is this important? Writing down this information forces you to think about this and avoid living your life on autopilot. Writing it down on paper is the easiest thing for me. The daily planner I use is small and flexible, and I can carry it with me every day and everywhere. In addition, writing down anything on paper helps you memorize it more than typing it on a keyboard.

Tools I use to capture data about my everyday life:

Good luck and happy logging!

by Ricardo Sanchez

“Just start”

Surely you’ve heard something like “just do it” or “just start,” but in many cases, starting is one of the most challenging tasks in life. In this post, I will share my own experience and struggles when starting and finishing projects.

It used to be easy for me to start and work on multiple projects. I remember staying up late often to work on these projects. Starting these projects was easy then; completing them while challenging was possible in most instances. For example, I developed a website where startups and small businesses could sign up, add their location, and then be shown on a map. Before that, I created a meetup group where I helped people find co-founders for their startups, and both were quite successful.

Those are just two examples, but over the years, I also started a successful blog back in the mid-2000s to talk about anything related to startups and technology in Austin, TX. The blog became a Meetup group that grew to over 3,000 people, and more than a hundred met monthly.

However, over time, I stopped working on these projects for different reasons. And while I thought of new projects and ideas all the time, I ended up with zero projects at some point. And I remember thinking. It’s okay. It is time to focus on my job and dedicate 100% of my time. Well, I got too complacent over the years. Working on a project besides your day job is healthy, and your day job could benefit from this.

Starting new projects is difficult, and there’s always an excuse, such as I need more time, my idea needs to be better, or I need to know where or how to start. The reality is, at least in my experience, that fear plays a significant role here—fear of not feeling capable enough, not competent enough, or not experienced enough. But guess what? Starting doesn’t require any of those things.

Start anything, work on it for some time, and then start something else. Ideally, you’ll finish what you start, but you’ll learn much from that experience even if you don’t. For example, writing my thoughts about an idea is a good start that works for me. The next thing I could do, depending on the project, is to manually create something to help the project, a social media account, a web page, and a list of items to complete. And if you need customers for your new project, start talking to potential customers, one at a time.

If you feel stuck and unable to start or move forward with a project, it may be time to think about why you feel that way. I fear wasting time on something that might not work, but deep down, I know there is value in starting and working on new projects. At the minimum, it is a learning experience, but it takes work to convince yourself of that.

Fear is the reason many dreams never come true. Of course, fear is not necessarily bad, but if you let fear drive your decisions, you’ll end up with many regrets and missed opportunities.

I started a new project a few months ago, the first one outside my regular job in many years. I am taking it slowly and am excited about the journey without overthinking the end result.

Not fearing the outcome of a project or an idea is my goal, and I am not comfortable feeling comfortable anymore. Maybe it’s my age, or my project ideas aren’t as exciting as before. Nevertheless, I will continue to do what I can to keep things interesting with these new projects.

I posted a tweet days ago mentioning that my goal this year is slowing down when traveling, eating, talking, etc.

This does not mean I want to be lazy. On the contrary, I want to focus on each task and give it all my time and dedication as I am doing it. This, of course, will include my new project. Cheers.