My name is Sam and this is my blog.
I am a soon-to-be father, a husband, a software developer, a runner, a gamer, and now a writer, among other things. I currently live in Salt Lake County with my wife and dog. I am also a current graduate student working on my Master of Science in Computer Science though the Georgia Institute of Technology. With a baby on the way, I wanted to create a space for me to share and reflect as I navigate it all.
One of my goals for 2025 is to write more. I have been journaling for several months now and I am learning to improve my ability to turn thoughts and feelings into words on a document. I used to journal somewhat regularly long ago when I was a kid. Being a kid though I did not put as much effort into it, mainly writing about high levels ideas and things that were happening in my life at the time and observations about what was happening around me. I did not have anything to guide me or tell me what to do, it was purely what I felt like writing that day.
As an adult now, I found that journaling on a blank page was extremely difficult because I did not know where to start. I recall being told throughout school that the toughest part about writing is starting and the best way to start is to start writing and your thoughts will better form as they are expressed. Even this was still quite daunting and I struggled with starting. I would keep putting off starting the journal, hoping that I would have a better idea the following day.
Enter the Journal app that Apple launched for iPhone in December 2023. I was aware of it but did not start using it regularly until April 2024. The advantage here was that Journal is convenient and easy to use. I carry my iPhone around all the time so I could journal at any time. The feature that attracted me the most was that it has journaling suggestions. This could range from thoughtful and meaningful prompts about myself, reflections on events and relationships, and recollections of feelings. Journaling suggestions could also be accounts of interactions that you have had with friends, places you visited, workouts, photos, and even music. This gives a large variety of writing topics to choose from.
In the beginning, I was heavily relying on these prompts and suggestions to get something in writing for that day. I still use the prompts but over the course of regularly writing I have found myself to be using the prompts less and coming up with my own ideas and discussion topics, which brings me to the point of this blog. In my journal I tend to write down my raw thoughts and not really refine anything after it gets typed into the entry. I am going to work on further developing ideas and polish them up for this blog.
My goal for this year is to write at least one blog post per month. Just like what James Clear discussed in Atomic Habits, I am making it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. But the important component here is that this is writing on a blank page where I decide what fills up the space and it is done publicly. Naturally I will keep a lot of my private writing to my journal but I am hoping to improve my writing by making it more polished and intentional through this medium. Plus, maybe someone reading this at some point will get something out of it. Regardless, 2025 is looking to be a great year with lots of great achievements to be done.
Future blog posts will cover a variety of topics, reflecting the different aspects of my life and interests. Here’s to the stories ahead.
-Sam