14 Sep 2026 #wellness #selfgrowth
If it drains you, cut it out.
After two days without sleep, I almost collapsed. I had forced myself to make money online and quit my day job. For that, I started on a social media platform and challenged myself to grow it by leaving 1 post, 10 likes, and 5 comments every day.
Within days, I pressured myself to scroll faster and longer, to leave more likes and more comments. All the contradictory advice only made things worse. “Find a niche,” “Don’t find a niche,” “Sell digital products,” “Start a community,” “Offer coaching calls…” Arrgggg!
But no matter the platform or your goals, doomscrolling is still draining.
Every session with a feed (or dumbscrolling, as I prefer to call it now) made my brain race and my anxiety rise. Until I couldn’t sleep because my brain refused to slow down. And probably for the first time, I had a panic attack after waking up.
Scrolling like a junkie was sucking all the energy and joy out of me with every swipe.
To reset my nervous system, I had to literally stop and do nothing. I didn’t open any platform with a “For you” feed or with a number next to my name for a week. In the meantime, I had to go back to walking in nature, writing just for fun again, and living away from screens. I had to go back to my daily healthy rituals.
Normalize that if it drains you, it’s OK to cut it out. Because it will cost you days to reset your nervous system and go back to your calm and steady life.
Keeping a daily healthy ritual is one of the ideas in 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life. That ritual saved me from collapsing after two days without sleep.
13 Sep 2026 #wellness #selfgrowth
The wrong habits can destroy your body and your sanity.
For two days, I woke up in the middle of night and couldn’t get back to sleep. My mind was rushing with countless thoughts. Deep breathing didn’t work. Relaxing sounds didn’t work either. My body felt tired, but my mind refused to rest.
Those days, I had started on Substack. To grow my followers and subscribers count, I scrolled down the “For you” feed to hit a daily goal of likes and comments. That routine broke me after a few days. I imposed myself the urge of making money and quitting my contracting coding gig. And that’s was only on the second week of a 30-day experiment.
When my sister realized I was a walking dead, she asked me to open up, which I did.
“Go back to your baseline,” she said.
After burning out, I take care of my body, mind, and spirit every day. Most of the time, that’s walking, writing, a moment of silence, and reading a page of Proverbs. Of course, that’s away from screens and feeds. That practice keeps me rooted. That’s my baseline.
It took me an entire week to feel calm again. One week! I scheduled all my writing and stayed away from social media. Going back to my baseline took me to sit down at a bench in a park with a book. That walk ended with me hugging a tree. I never thought I’d do that, but I did.
Have a set of daily habits that keeps you healthy and regulated, to help you get throught your daily life and reclaim your peace when you drift away from it. Make every day a good day. Find your baseline.
Working on your body, mind, and spirit is the one idea I try to live by daily. It’s idea #2 in 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life.
12 Sep 2026 #experiments
For this week, I had planned to leave 5 comments and 10 likes daily. But I changed my plan.
Substack “For-you” feed doesn’t energize me, just like any other social platform. After a few days of engaging for growth, I noticed how my energy was depleting and my anxiety raising. It was again a junkie. I felt the pressure of growing and making money, even after a few weeks.
That’s why I decided to schedule all my notes and posts, and return after 1 week. The same plan I follow for LinkedIn.
Here’s what happened in numbers:
- 8 followers. Same number, but new faces.
- 3 new subscribers. Two came from Notes and the other came organically.
- 11 notes and 1 post
- 5 likes on the top performing note
- 3 likes on the next top performing one
Well, those 5 and 3 likes already feel like real progress.
But the most important bit: I learned to grow at my own rhythm and stop listening to everybody’s advice. And if it drains it, it’s out.
If you’re curious, here are my first impressions from week 1 and my results from week 2.
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11 Sep 2026 #writing
Nobody wants to read about the successful being successful. That’s a bad story.
James Altucher, one of the writers I’ve stolen from, shares not to be heroes, but vulnerable. Our struggles make our stories more relatable. He has a rule: if it doesn’t make you scared, don’t hit Publish. I probably read it in Choose Yourself Stories.
In 10 Simple Ideas That Changed My Life, I wrote about my burnout episode, my stomach issues, and, even bits of my dating life. For a moment, I regretted sharing that, especially in a book.
These days, a reader told me the book related so much with her, because she’s been going through similar situations. That made it a 5-star for her. And that’s the power of stories.
If it doesn’t make you scared, don’t publish it.
10 Sep 2026 #misc
I was looking to know how the mind and emotions work.
But I found the best lesson for marriages and relationships.
It’s the XYZ approach from Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman:
When sharing about an uncomfortable or annoying situation, instead of attacking the spouse, point out the situation.
And say something like, When you did X, it made me feel Y. I would have preferred Z.
Always make it about the situation, not the person.
And if it works for marriages, it works at the workplace too.