Hi everyone,
Greetings from Washington, D.C.!
TL;DR: Sunday Snapshots is going on a short summer break and will be back on August 1st.
More details for those interested below.
This newsletter has shown up in inboxes for 109 consecutive weeks since May 2019. Over those 109 weeks, it has been a force for good in my life through the relationships I have built with readers, the added richness in my non-online life conversations, and of course, by being a forcing function for me to put down thoughts about things that are interesting to me. And at least accordingly to some readers, it has been a force of goodness in their lives too.
But over the last couple of months, I have felt the act of creating compelling narratives on books I’m reading and businesses that I find interesting increasingly difficult. I tried to solve this by pivoting to essays a few weeks ago. And even though these essays have found a receptive audience, it did not change the fundamental issue of the serious creative blocks I was facing.
Some of it is due to the fog of being on the internet (especially Twitter) where you experience a kind of mind-meld. You start to loose your original voice. I distinctly remember when issues used to be littered with inside jokes and witticisms without comprising on rigorous analysis. Truth be told, I have not felt that voice on my fingertips for some time now. When I send something out on a topic without giving it the proper treatment that it deserves, it feels intellectually dishonest. I have pushed through this feeling on enough weeks to know that this is not just a particular week’s problem.
It has become clear to me that I need to take a break.
First and foremost, I will use the time to de-compress. Then, I intend on getting back on the horse by reading and listening to a couple of books I’ve been putting off. It’s possible that you still see a collaboration or two with me during this time. If not, I’ll be back soon enough on 1st August.
See you on the other side.
Until a few Sundays from now,
Sid