"Why Write All This Stuff?"

It's day 247 of documenting 2025.

It's another mid-week.

Weekend vibes loading? Yep 😎 

But for now, it's still Thursday.

A thought just came to me now.

I'm like, "why write all this stuff?"

Documentation, sharing thoughts, highlighting certain books...

"Why even bother?" Someone may ask, and follow up with,

"None of it is relevant, you're just writing about and for yourself".

That's the thought.

Now, I'm thinking about a response to this thought...kinda like a counter thought.

So, here goes...

"Why write all this stuff?" 

Because I can!

"Why even bother?"

I consider this a training....to keep writing even when no one is reading, to keep going when nothing is working, and most importantly, to manifest God's aspect of creativity in me.

"None of this is relevant, you're just writing about and for yourself".

Well, yes and no.

I'm writing for myself to document how this year is going, because I feel like this year is a turning point in my life. So why not?

Besides, it could become a memoir one day...something that could inspire and encourage a lot of people.

Who am I to stop creating?

Because believe it or not, every post here is something that someone can read and learn from.

Content.

And basically, writing is the biggest way to show God's aspect of His creativity in me?

If my Heavenly Father is creative, why won't I be creative?

Okay, that's by the way....

I'm really just practicing my response when people I meet actually voice out these thoughts later on.

So, I can say....it's all practice 😁

That aside, let's move to the sections for today.

And yes, I'll finally share the last two poems of my poetry collection, Lanterns For The Lost.

But first, Highlights...

365 Days With Self-discipline 

📌 On First-Order and Second-Order Consequences

"First-order consequences often have opposite desirabilities from second-order consequences.

First-order consequences of exercise are the pain and time spent. 

Second-order consequences are better health and more attractive appearance.

Food that tastes good is often bad for you and vice versa."

Quote by Ray Dalio

When making a decision, resist the temptation to think of the immediate consequences alone. Take into account both the first-order and second-order

consequences.

When the first-order consequences are unpleasant, second-order consequences will usually make up for them. If it’s the other way around and something has good first-order consequences, it’s possible it will be bad for you in the long run.

If you’re about to take it easy for the rest of the day and skip a workout, the first-order consequence is that you get to relax and do something more pleasant.

However, the second-order consequence is that you miss a day of exercise, which will potentially affect your routine and in the long haul, lead to your returning to your old, inactive and unfit self.

There’s more to each decision — no matter how small — than just how it’s going to make you feel immediately. 

If you fail to account for the second-order consequences, you’ll never learn how to discern between ultimately meaningless

immediate gratification and the power of delaying rewards for a better outcome in the future (or vice versa — you won’t be able to see that the pain or discomfort today can lead to immense benefits in the future).

So, here's what I understand.

The point here is that we should think of how certain actions will make us feel later on....not just in the immediate moment.

If something feels good immediately but makes you feel bad afterwards, it's probably not good for you.

And when something doesn't feel good immediately but makes you feel good afterwards, it's probably something you should be doing.

It's about the option you decide to go for...this or that.

Speaking about options, we're picking the next option for today, which is two soul-speak poems.

What does soul-speak mean? 🤔 

I think I just made that word up...

But I would just define it as, "speaking to you on a deeper level".

So, here they are:

The Only Thing That’s Yours

They think virtue hides in big acts

in empire-building, in vows, in busy steps.

But it’s buried in the unnoticed:

how you speak, how you see,

how you hold your own silence.

Your body can feel, like a grazing ox.

Your soul can crave, like beasts in heat.

Your mind can reason,

just like the cunning, the cruel,

the ones who profane everything sacred.

But what sets you apart

is how you greet fate

not like a victim or a rebel,

but like a friend you’ve missed

who finally came to sit beside you.

Stay soft-spoken in truth.

Stay unstained by the world’s distortions.

Let your life whisper of humility,

radiate with quiet cheer,

move with simplicity that needs no spotlight.

When the end comes

and it always does

let it find you clean,

at peace,

already one with what must be.

Something to think about

What do your unnoticed habits say about your inner world?

For me, I would say my unnoticed habits suggest that my inner world is evolving.

It's like a gradual shift from the person I used to be, to the person God has called me to be.

I've let go of a lot of old habits, expectations and beliefs.

Like I told my friend the other day, "I'm still a work in progress".

I believe the real fight is against continuity....and we must always continue to do make the right choices.

One bad decision....game over.

The decline starts from there, unless you can return and resolve to never go that way again.

And I always pray for God's grace....to continue on this path. I hope His grace never departs from you too 😌

This is how I'll end today's post...

With hope and a prayer in my heart.

Thanks for reading 🎀 

One more thing, I've decided to shorten my closing words to just one sentence.

To see the old closing words, read the former posts on the main site, Documenting 2025

To see more of my longer content, check out my Selar store.

See you in the next post 💜

PS. I only shared one of the poems, just noticing that now 😐

Will share the last poem tomorrow.