I relate so hard - Substack seems perfect in that it's a collection of essay-writers who write about things that are interesting to me but also it's literally just LinkedIn. Everyone is here to get followers and paid subscribers (which is FINE just not for me). Before I came back to Substack, I looked into other blogging platforms that were more just truly "blog" sites and nothing really fits the bill / is alive anymore. But I figured I'd rather write and publish essays that my 10 friends read than publish nothing at all. (My 10 friends reading is literally all I could ask for. How special!!!)
It DOES feel so perfect on the surface, it should be FUN and interesting! I don't think it's just like LinkedIn, but I also think my algo is pretty locked down (I've seen those LinkedIn-type posts, but I thankfully don't use them a lot).
I've also thought of moving but yeah — the people are here, and I want to be where the people are. But at the end of the day, it is a good reminder that writing for 10 friends is really what it's all about <3.
This resonates so much. For whatever reason- this moment in my life, this moment in history, just hitting the burnout point of being chronically online for 20 years- I've suddenly felt over it all. As for Substack, I agree- I do feel like it matters to grow here, and yet the algorithm is so fickle- you can produce the same quality or same type of things and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It makes it feel arbitrary and leaches the joy out of writing. I'm not sure what to make of it all or what to do next. Glad I'm not alone.
The aglo is fickle! I never know what works, and sometimes what lands feels so random. I guess I should stop trying to figure it out — maybe that's the lesson. But not alone at all!
"hitting the burnout point of being chronically online for 20 years" ... that hit me in the guts. I have been chronically online for over 20 years...and I wasn't even a teen 20 years ago. Is it just a lifetime of living online and now our nervous systems are all rebelling?
You're so right — these things are so repetitive and tell the same story time and time again. But yes, we have to keep writing! I'm pushing through it, knowing the people who want to be here are, and that's enough!
I feel like you’re always in my mind. I feel this SO much: “I know I don’t want to write for the algorithm, but I also know that I want my work to be seen.”
I miss when writing a newsletter (my first one in 1999 with middle school friends via our AOL email addresses) was just kind of sending out what you had to say into one destination: an inbox. Substack is so much more than just an inbox delivery platform now, and that makes its magic complicated. I love the connections (bk Substack mom WhatsApp!!) but hate the algo strategy. It’s like when I used to be on Twitter, I feel like my thoughts about things were thought the lens of “Oh this would make a good tweet.”
I appreciate you showing up despite how complicated this platform has become. It’s something that’s been a major blocker for me, but I want to persevere and try to ignore the noise and just write for an inbox. I’m gunna try to get back out there!
Great point on the destination changing - it used to be just an inbox, now, I have to worry about being discoverable and all of that. The number of folks that actively don’t want to subscribe to newsletters here is also a bit discouraging — I mean I get it, my inbox is insane, but if that’s not happening HERE then…
Looking forward to you getting back to it, however long it takes 🫶
I don’t think it’s you. I also joined Substack a few years ago and it was my happy place for so long. It felt like a true community and in the last 6 months especially I just haven’t felt motivated to show up because it stopped feeling that way.
Part of it was that, like you, the free time I had went to other things (for me, mainly my novel) but also it just started to feel full of strategy and convincing people to pay attention, like every other social media.
I know it’s normal for things to grow and shift and change and this was probably always inevitable, but this one hurts, because Substack felt like such a special place before
Echoing all of this! Yes, I've made room for other things (congrats on having a novel, btw!) but yeah, if it was bringing me similar levels of joy, I might find it easier to show up too.
Thank you! And yes I think you’re right, if it was bringing similar levels of joy it would be a no brainer. But also kudos to us for choosing that joy and not forcing it just because!
well you've been here for 2 years and you're a product manager so you maybe know better but someone once told me to treat substack like every other social media.
And for someone who isn't on a lot of social media, that just made me detach from it.
I write notes and leave it into the void.
And my niche is still barely on substack so i barely have the physical or mental strength to try.
Show up if you like it, read, like, post, and close the app. Like they say on tiktok, one day, your tribe will find you.
Ahhh I get it. I spend a lot of my social media energy on Instagram. And I actually love it but, yeah, there are moments when a switch in me flips from joy and connection to likes and follows and that doesn’t bring me joy. My challenge is being there for the joy and connection, enjoying that aspect, and somehow detaching from(?), engaging with(?), managing(?), not sure what word to use, the rest.
PS I probably butchered that last sentence - wasn’t sure how else to write it 😂
I relate so hard - Substack seems perfect in that it's a collection of essay-writers who write about things that are interesting to me but also it's literally just LinkedIn. Everyone is here to get followers and paid subscribers (which is FINE just not for me). Before I came back to Substack, I looked into other blogging platforms that were more just truly "blog" sites and nothing really fits the bill / is alive anymore. But I figured I'd rather write and publish essays that my 10 friends read than publish nothing at all. (My 10 friends reading is literally all I could ask for. How special!!!)
It DOES feel so perfect on the surface, it should be FUN and interesting! I don't think it's just like LinkedIn, but I also think my algo is pretty locked down (I've seen those LinkedIn-type posts, but I thankfully don't use them a lot).
I've also thought of moving but yeah — the people are here, and I want to be where the people are. But at the end of the day, it is a good reminder that writing for 10 friends is really what it's all about <3.
This resonates so much. For whatever reason- this moment in my life, this moment in history, just hitting the burnout point of being chronically online for 20 years- I've suddenly felt over it all. As for Substack, I agree- I do feel like it matters to grow here, and yet the algorithm is so fickle- you can produce the same quality or same type of things and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It makes it feel arbitrary and leaches the joy out of writing. I'm not sure what to make of it all or what to do next. Glad I'm not alone.
The aglo is fickle! I never know what works, and sometimes what lands feels so random. I guess I should stop trying to figure it out — maybe that's the lesson. But not alone at all!
"hitting the burnout point of being chronically online for 20 years" ... that hit me in the guts. I have been chronically online for over 20 years...and I wasn't even a teen 20 years ago. Is it just a lifetime of living online and now our nervous systems are all rebelling?
I really feel like it might be!
It’s not just you. As we become less and less aligned with capitalistic lensed endeavors, it all feels icky.
We get drawn in by community, by the idea of something new, something better. But humans are so repetitive within these systems.
Notes is such a distraction largely, and I feel like I see the same topics day after day.
I don’t have an answer, or a solution but I feel ya. And I hope you keep writing and I will too, vitality be damned. Because we need this space.
PS I want a local substack WhatsApp group, that’s so cute!
You're so right — these things are so repetitive and tell the same story time and time again. But yes, we have to keep writing! I'm pushing through it, knowing the people who want to be here are, and that's enough!
I love reading your writing and hope more of your drafts make it out into the wild. This was a great read like all of the rest - thanks for sharing ♥️
Thank you thank you! They will, I promise, I'm slowly but surely letting them take off 🪽
Take your time!! **hugs**
I feel like you’re always in my mind. I feel this SO much: “I know I don’t want to write for the algorithm, but I also know that I want my work to be seen.”
I miss when writing a newsletter (my first one in 1999 with middle school friends via our AOL email addresses) was just kind of sending out what you had to say into one destination: an inbox. Substack is so much more than just an inbox delivery platform now, and that makes its magic complicated. I love the connections (bk Substack mom WhatsApp!!) but hate the algo strategy. It’s like when I used to be on Twitter, I feel like my thoughts about things were thought the lens of “Oh this would make a good tweet.”
I appreciate you showing up despite how complicated this platform has become. It’s something that’s been a major blocker for me, but I want to persevere and try to ignore the noise and just write for an inbox. I’m gunna try to get back out there!
Great point on the destination changing - it used to be just an inbox, now, I have to worry about being discoverable and all of that. The number of folks that actively don’t want to subscribe to newsletters here is also a bit discouraging — I mean I get it, my inbox is insane, but if that’s not happening HERE then…
Looking forward to you getting back to it, however long it takes 🫶
I don’t think it’s you. I also joined Substack a few years ago and it was my happy place for so long. It felt like a true community and in the last 6 months especially I just haven’t felt motivated to show up because it stopped feeling that way.
Part of it was that, like you, the free time I had went to other things (for me, mainly my novel) but also it just started to feel full of strategy and convincing people to pay attention, like every other social media.
I know it’s normal for things to grow and shift and change and this was probably always inevitable, but this one hurts, because Substack felt like such a special place before
Echoing all of this! Yes, I've made room for other things (congrats on having a novel, btw!) but yeah, if it was bringing me similar levels of joy, I might find it easier to show up too.
Thank you! And yes I think you’re right, if it was bringing similar levels of joy it would be a no brainer. But also kudos to us for choosing that joy and not forcing it just because!
So well articulated.
well you've been here for 2 years and you're a product manager so you maybe know better but someone once told me to treat substack like every other social media.
And for someone who isn't on a lot of social media, that just made me detach from it.
I write notes and leave it into the void.
And my niche is still barely on substack so i barely have the physical or mental strength to try.
Show up if you like it, read, like, post, and close the app. Like they say on tiktok, one day, your tribe will find you.
"one day your tribe will find you" — yes, so true! And I feel many already have (and I've found them) which is already HUGE!
But yes, Substack is just like other platforms. I think I've put it on a pedestal for a bit too long.
Ahhh I get it. I spend a lot of my social media energy on Instagram. And I actually love it but, yeah, there are moments when a switch in me flips from joy and connection to likes and follows and that doesn’t bring me joy. My challenge is being there for the joy and connection, enjoying that aspect, and somehow detaching from(?), engaging with(?), managing(?), not sure what word to use, the rest.
PS I probably butchered that last sentence - wasn’t sure how else to write it 😂
All about balance!