What I learned From Reading Every Article in Illumination’s Featured List
Entertained, irritated, shocked, surprised, humbled and informed are some of the ways I felt after reading 52 random articles
I’ve been fortunate enough to appear in @illumination’s Featured Stories list on many occasions. Or maybe every published article makes the Featured list on that day, so I’ve only appeared on the list on the days I published. I don’t know.
Whatever the reason, it’s good for the ego, and it feels nice to have even a tiny bit of recognition for my contributions to the vastness that is Illumination, and Medium as a whole (I accidentally wrote ‘whale’ instead of ‘whole’ there. It made me chuckle, but I hesitated to change it as I do feel like a small fish in a big pond. Definitely Freudian).
I flick through the day’s Featured Stories every day and click on anything I think will interest me, but yesterday was different. I wondered if I’ve been missing a trick. How do I actually know what will interest me until I’ve read it, or at least started reading it? Perhaps. after all, this shows how important titles are, yet it’s impossible to create the right title for everyone, despite what the click-baiters say, isn’t it?
Am I doing my fellow authors a disservice by not reading what they’ve painstakingly and lovingly crafted for my entertainment or edification?
Is everyone guilty of this, I wondered?
Hmm. I have no answers to the above questions, so I decided to read all 52 articles in yesterday’s (April 1st 2021) Featured Stories number 30, and boy, I’m so glad I did.
I’m not looking for another job, but Randye S Spina, MBA’s 14 Must-Have FREE Digital Job + Gig Search Tools, is nothing short of genius. Such a clever idea that I, being a professional marketer, should have thought of in my sleep, but didn’t. So many great takeaways there.
Perhaps I should feel slightly embarrassed that I didn’t really know what gaslighting was, not until I read Danielle Loewen’s article, that is, which stopped me dead in my tracks. Oh, so that’s what it means. I continued reading the explanation and examples, but found myself becoming irritated. “Yet another ‘thing’ that’s given a 21st-century name-tag,” I said out loud. “Why must everything be a thing these days and have a name to go with it?”
As I continued to read, I realised my irritation was an unconscious reaction to guilt. Not because I’m an abusive gaslighter, but precisely because I sometimes do it without realising it. I’m an unwitting, undercover gaslighter who does it without malice and without thinking. How many times have I inadvertently dismissed someone’s opinion with a, “Well, maybe,” without considering how that may have left them feeling? I feel bad now. But knowledge is power, and I will think about this with every future conversation.
At that point, I was only two articles in. Already I was reeling from what I’d learned, and anxious with FOMO from everything I’d missed previously. I have some serious catching up to do.
It’s late in the day and I’ve now read all 52 articles, even the poetry, of which I am seriously not a fan, sorry. It’s not my intention to comment here on every article, even though I could easily do so on the good and the not-so-good. I will, perhaps, just mention how enlightened I feel having read Thewriteyard’s account of National Cleavage day!
Lessons are everywhere
What I’ve learned from taking the time to read what others have taken time to write, and still others have taken the time to curate into a list of featured articles is invaluable. My heartfelt thanks to you all.
Here’s some of what I’ve learned:
- Reading other people’s articles is a great way to find amazing people to follow. No shit, Sherlock.
- Some writers are so good that reading their work is humbling, even if the subject is of no intrinsic interest. Read it anyway. What you discover may surprise you.
- I won’t agree with everything I read. It’s ok, I don’t have to.
- I’m entitled to form an opinion on everything I read. It doesn’t mean I have to comment, but the author might appreciate it.
- I’m nervous about commenting on an article that raises my hackles in case it’s seen as gaslighting. For example, Heather Jacquet's honest and heartwarming article made me want to comment (e.g. because I had a strong opinion), but will disagreeing be seen as dismissing her view/opinion, and interpreted as gaslighting?
- Not everything you read is true or correct (yes, that means not everything you write is correct, either).
- Some people have a great message, but write poorly. Don’t judge them too harshly.
- Claps mean nothing now from a financial perspective, but they mean everything from recognition and respect for what’s written perspective. I’ve clapped to the max on every featured article that moved me emotionally or intellectually or made me laugh.
- I’ve never been a natural reader. It takes effort, but so much writing inspiration comes from reading.
The takeaway
Out of respect from what I’ve learned from a single session of taking the time to read, not skim, my pledge to you all is that I will read as much of your work as I possibly can, and will clap and comment, or not, as I see fit.
And, if I am not alone in focusing more on writing than reading (please tell me I’m not the only one!), I urge you to do the same.
About the author: Clive Wilson