150th Story| Medium Is My Friend

It is time to look back and reflect on a journey with Medium — a journey that started in August 2019 as an experiment. Today, I coin this experiment a friendship. Yes, I am a friend of Medium and looking forward to a remodeled friendship.

Background

As you can see from the title, this is my 150th story on Medium. It took me 52 months to write 150 stories, and the pace might seem very slow. Juggling a software developer job, a part-time counselor for an NGO, and a 6+ year legal battle is the excuse. Writing has not been my top priority, but that will change.

A friend of mine introduced Medium to me in 2019. There were no charges for joining and publishing articles. By then, I had already spent some years practicing public speaking in Toastmasters. Hence, writing wasn’t new to me. Moreover, I have always been a fan of journaling and have journaled daily for the last decade. It’s therapeutic because it lets me vomit my mental garbage.

Initial Days With Medium

Writing on Medium was fun and easy, and I started gaining followers. Even though the feedback was encouraging, It was tough to be consistent. I could not find enough time and energy to write.

As a mental health advocate, my first story was on maintaining mental health hygiene. I used the experience of surgery on my right bum to discuss a stigmatized topic.

As the following increased, I chose to upgrade my membership. A mere 5$ (USD) to get paid for writing was intriguing. There were no aspirations of earning millions, but there were other benefits. I had unlimited access to articles and loved it as an avid reader. Like journaling, reading is therapeutic. It’s bibliotherapy and has its advantages.

Mentoring & Networking

I had a mentor who was a seasoned Toastmaster, a public speaker, and a book author. His name is Tom, and he helped me polish my writing skills. Years went by, and I built a network with fellow medium writers.

I cannot continue without mentioning the role of Dr Mehmet. Dr Mehmet is a scientist and a technologist. He owns one of the most significant publications on Medium named, Illumination. He reviewed most of my articles and introduced me to online tools to improve my writing. Tools like Grammarly, Hemmingway Editor & Word tune are his favorite recommendations.

Last year, he presented me with an opportunity to become an editor at Illumination. It had been an amazing learning experience and have loved the role ever since.

Friendship With Medium

Last month, I saw a notification on Medium about a new subscription model. It allows us to provide an extra boost to new writers. If I choose to be part of this subscription, writers will earn four times their earnings.

It’s an opportunity to join Medium to motivate writers who like to pen down their thoughts. As mentioned earlier, writing is therapeutic and it isn’t only a belief. Subscribing to the new medium subscription enables me to put my beliefs into action. If my action allows individuals to vomit their mental garbage, I have walked the talk.

When I first discussed the idea of blogging with one of my dear friends in 2018, he called my writing childish. He was right and spent 90 minutes to justify the reasons behind it. I cannot take his name as I don’t have permission, but let’s call this person Xavier for representation.

Xavier works as a senior-level executive for a technology-based company. His calendar is as busy as anyone in the corporate world. Getting 90 minutes to highlight fundamental issues in my writing was like gold dust. He was not getting anything in return, but his actions motivated me to encourage others.

The honest intentions of people like Tom, Dr. Mehmet, and Xavier motivated me. Their sincerity led me to upgrade my membership to Medium. I don’t expect anything in return. Being able to inspire at an affordable price was irresistible.

I won’t say I am selfless. I have hidden intentions. Acts like these help me in my spiritual journey. A journey that gained speed in 2020. In 2020, I started practicing Vipassana before COVID-19 cramped Australians in lockdowns. I have written many articles on Vipassana and am developing a niche for it. Some of the links are below:

Recently, I started a series on the four Noble Truths of Buddhism. The reason is to design a process to manage anxiety with the help of Vipassana. I have published the first two noble truths. The link to the articles is below:

What’s next

As a friend of Medium, I am more motivated than ever to continue my writing journey. Most of my articles focus on spirituality but aren’t limited to Vipassana. My daily practice enables me to develop a niche in this area. Daily practice allows me to identify common pitfalls as well. For example, look at the two articles below, which focus on two such pitfalls.

As a software developer, I like writing tutorials on cloud programming. Going forward, I would love to provide some structure to my tutorials for readers. The plan is to use Technology Hits to design a structure for my tutorials. Technology Hits (TH) is another publication under Illumination.

As a men’s rights activist, I try to break myths about gender discrimination. and bullying through my articles. My work as a first-level counselor helps me view discrimination with a different eye. Since it’s a controversial topic, I am careful before publishing articles.

If you want to read my views on gender discrimination, you can read them here.

Thanks for reading.

Tarun