Sequence Never Shortened

I used to be an outdoor blogger. It was never a big blog, but two things worked in my favour. Firstly, in 2008 after being inspired by a feature on Countryfile I recorded a video of myself barefoot walking (it is still online - [www.youtube.com/watch) and the related blog post was heavily linked to across the globe (which boosted my reputation with Google). Secondly, I created Social Hiking, a platform used by other (bigger) outdoor bloggers, so I was embraced as part of the gang (culminating in a surprising nomination as Outdoor Personality of the Year - I lost to Bear Grylls!)

The blog mostly covered hikes, equipment reviews and other outdoor related bits and pieces. My love of the outdoors however was only one facet of my world (I have recently discovered the term multipotentiality which fits me nicely), and I often dabbled and failed with other blogs, one of which was called Sequence Never Shortened - a reaction to those Apple ads which show a slick user experience with a side note that the sequence has been shortened.

Having been a freelance web developer for years, I evolved my work into a business building digital solutions in the social housing sector. Whilst there were so many positives, it was also consuming, so I closed my blog, turned off Social Hiking and withdrew from social media. The last few years have been especially frantic - we started a partnership with another company, were acquired and I worked for the new owners.

Until mid-August when, by choice, I left to … well, to do nothing. Well, not nothing - I do the school run, the cleaning and a slowly increasing amount of the household chores. I have also started the process of resting, rebuilding and rediscovering who I am now away from that long held identity of work that defined who I thought I was for so long.

There is a journey to that process - a journey of indulging interests, digesting self-help books, brainstorming new paths, doing daily self-discovery rituals and grabbing opportunities when they arise. And it feels important for me to document this journey in blog form - to hold myself accountable to the world (even if no one reads it) and to flex and train my writing and creative muscles.

So - I present to you… Sequence Never Shortened, a blog about my journey of self-discovery - the full journey, not a shortened insta-friendly sequence. Expect gardening, kombucha, hiking, model painting, houseplants, self-help, technology, castles, board games, reading and a whole load more.